YuGiOh! CD
by Alex Gailson
Summary: A story of one young Duelist from a wealthy family defying his fate in the hopes of a better life at Central Duel Academy. Call of Destiny
1. Prologue

From the time on Yugi Moto all the way to Jaden Yuki's Graduation from Central Duel Academy, the world was under going a change that not even the King of Games could have foreseen. Many are aware of the origins of Public Duel Academies but few understand just how much their invention changed the global perspective on Duel Monsters. In the beginning, as Duel Monsters became more and more popular, it became possible for individuals to not only make a living off of Dueling but to gain high concentrations of wealth. Dueling was no longer merely a childish pastime but a way to earn a living. This innovation lead many, including Seto Kiaba, to create Duel Academies to encourage a career in Dueling. As time went on, the game became the universal source for entertainment for people of all ages. For those who were already Duelists, this change in attitude proved beneficial because it inspired more and more people around the world to start Dueling.

However, as Dueling became more prominent, corporations began to move in to capitalize on the game's growing popularity. Professional Duelists were being sponsored by multi-million dollar corporations, which made it one of the highest paying occupations in the world. As a result, the demand on Duel Academies skyrocketed due to parents sending their children off to become exemplary Duelist, and by extension, insuring their future financial security. Eventually the schools began to break down, ill equipped to handle such a large influx of student.

These breakdowns lead to the formation of the Duel Class. Already powerful families began to open their own private Duel Academies to cater to the wealthy individuals who sought a career in Dueling. The system worked so well that the families became richer and more influential than even those in the upper class of society were. With such an influx of would-be-Duelist headed their way, along with the subsequent sponsorship that companies gave them for providing them with future clients, these families held a great deal of power and authority over world events. As such, these Duel Families were able to create for themselves an oligarchic rule.

By the year 2022, there were 10 separate private Duel Academies around the world with a powerful Duel Family at the head of each. Due to these new schools, the five main Duel Academies had to compete for funding as well as up and coming Duelists. They opened their doors to students from all over the world, making each academy a melting pot of cultures.

Out of the many Duel Families, many would say that the strongest was the Gailson family, headed by an American entrepreneur, Nathaniel Gailson, and his wife, a Japanese politician, named Takahashi Ooraka. Together they had five children, all of whom were trained to be the best Duelists in the world.

This is the story one young Duelist who traveled to Central Duel Academy in search for his true Destiny.


	2. Chapter 1: A Journey Begins

Rubble covered the scorched landscape as the choking smell of sulfur and dead flesh filled the air. A thick blanket of smoke and ash, concealing the full moon from sight, hid the night sky. For hours, the sounds of war being waged echoed through what was once a silent temple. The blood-curdling roars of man and beast were swiftly accompanied by the harsh sound of metal hitting metal.

In the ruins of large basilica, two forces were enthralled in the midst of a battle. The remnants of two once expansive armies made their final stand against one another in a large, circular room with pillars running parallel to the walls all along the perimeter of the room. What remained of the ceiling was now rubble on the floor, exposing the soldiers to the bleak night sky.

Blasts of energy were swiftly followed by the clash of swords as soldiers of every shape and form attacked each other while others retreated to the safety of the pillars. The battle ensued for hours until only one soldier on the opposing side remained.

The creature was a large, bulky dragon on its stomach, its own crimson blood glinting off its golden scales by the light of the burning bodies scattered around the room. The dragon tried to stand but before it could even rise to a knee, it collapsed under its own weight. The dragon weakly looked up to see the silhouettes of a group of soldiers standing over him.

It was then that a smile cracked across the face of the dragon, followed soon after by a loud, menacing laugh. The monster opened its mouth and began to speak in Latin.

_You think it is over? You think you have won, don't you? You might have won this battle, but not the war. We will never truly die. Even now, all of you are merely pawns in a much grander design. You are but tools to my master. We shall return, and what is more, by your own hands-_

One of the soldiers standing over the dragon raised his sword.

_The Dark One shall rise once more!_

The soldier brought down his sword and decapitated the dragon.

Skyler jolted from his sleep, his covers and mattress socked in sweat. He clutched his arms to his chest as his body started to convulse from shear fear. After a few minutes of heavy breathing, he finally found the strength to stand up, running his hands through his long blonde hair with red and blue highlight. Taking his time, Skyler slowly put in a black wife-beater and a pair of jeans, which accentuated his lean, muscular body, before walking up to the deck of the ship.

The sun started to rise just over the horizon, casting an array of hues over the morning sky. Waves rocked off the bow of the ship as it sliced though the water, casting a cool spray of ocean water against his tanned face.

Never being one to mind an early morning, Skyler had always enjoyed the sweet smell of dawn, the sudden calm that it seemed to cast over the land. His pale green eyes narrowed to make out the blurry silhouette of an object just on the horizon. Out of the barren and seemingly endless sea came what appeared to be an oasis. As Skyler leaned forward on the railing of the S.S. Yuban, he couldn't help but grimace as the image of Central Duel Academy came into view.

He smirked a little, reached into his bag, and took out his Duel Monsters Deck. On the very top of the Deck was a Monster Card with the image of a baby bat, smiling happily. Skyler looked down at the card and spoke to it, as if expecting a response.

"You can wake up now, little one. We've finally here…"

The card glowed slightly and made a small "Twweeeee" sound, after which Skyler smiled and put his Deck back into his backpack.

Ten minutes later, Skyler disembarked from the ship, waving goodbye to the crew. He quickly made his way through the courtyard of the school grounds, looking at all the students in red, yellow, and blue uniforms. Many of the students, mostly of students in blue, looked at him suspiciously. Their narrowed eyes spanned his face as if trying desperately to place where they had seen him before. Skyler hoped silently to himself that none of them would recognize him.

A few days before he left home, he put blue and red highlights in his hair and started to wear inexpensive clothes. He wanted to be sure that people wouldn't connect him with his family or the Duel Class.

He hastily walked to where he would be taking the written portion of the entrance exam. Normally he would have had to wait to take the exams in Domino City at the start of the next term before being accepted into Central. Through his connections, however, Skyler greased a few wheels, letting him transfer from his families Duel Academy under the alias of Yuushi Gale. Since he carried some of the same facial structure of his mother, Takahashi Ooraka, he believed he could pass for Japanese.

Skyler walked into school, down a long hallway, and finally made it to where he was meant to take the first part of his exam. As soon as he opened the doors, however, he realized that he had interrupted a class that was already in session. Everyone in the room turned to see the blonde and blue haired student standing in the doorway. A teacher with long, spiky black hair who was standing at the front of the class looked up from the book he was reading aloud with a smile.

"Can I help you?" The teacher asked. pie

Skyler silently walked down the stairs of the lecture-style classroom and handed the teacher a pass that explained his situation. The teacher smiled and took the note, scanning it over intently. The teacher proceeded to let out a light chuckle before looking back at Skyler.

"You're a little late, don't you think Mr…" He looked back at the form. "Yuushi Gale? That's a Japanese name, correct? So I should refer to you as Gale. I hope you realize that the term has already started, so you might have traveled all the way here only to go home. But it's fine; I can give you a copy of the test. Would you mind sitting out in the hallway?"

Skyler nodded without saying a word.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you? Well that's okay, too. Here you go…"

The teacher handed Skyler the test. He took the worksheet and turned to walk out of the room as fast as he could. One thing that Skyler couldn't understand was why people felt the need to stare at him everywhere he went. As he walked up the stairs, he tilted head up to see the majority of girls in the class giggling to each other, only confusing Skyler further.

The test itself was only meant to be an hour long, however, after the second hour, the teacher peeked his head out of the door to check up on Skyler.

"Everything alright out here, Mr. Yuushi?"

Skyler looked up at the teacher. "Yeah, almost done."

"Well, class is almost over, when you're done here, come on in. I would like to talk to you about something."

He retracted his head and closed the door behind him. After a few minutes, Skyler started to become increasing worried over his fate at this Academy. Did the teacher recognize him? Would he call his parents and tell them where he was?

Skyler quickly finished the test just as class was getting out. As the students filed out of the classroom, the same group of giggling girls watched Skyler as he entered the room, a few of them winking at him. One of Skyler's eyebrows rose, unsure as to why the girls were laughing.

The teacher was at his desk, grading papers, when he looked up to see Skyler. He walked down the stairs until he stood opposite of the teacher with his arm outstretched, the sweat-soaked worksheet clutched in his hand. The black haired man took the worksheet and slipped it into a grading machine under his desk.

"I see that the girls around here are already starting to take notice of you. I must say, for someone who is trying to avoid discovery, you sure do call a lot of attention to yourself, Mr. Gailson."

A cold shiver shot down Skyler's spine.

The teacher let out a light chuckle.

"Please don't worry yourself. I understand your situation and I promise to keep my mouth shut in the interest of your education."

Skyler let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mr..."

"Nitephyer...but you can just call me Saber. And believe me, I understand where you are coming from because I too came from a Duel Family. The pressure can be too much to handle sometimes. To be perfectly honest, even if the administration were to discover your identity, I doubt that they would have an issue. With all the new Duel Families creating Academies, the idea of having a student from the Duel Class attend Central would no doubt be cause for celebration."

A light ding sounded from under Saber's desk, which prompted him reached under and grab the graded test. A small crept across his face as he scanned the worksheet.

"But more about that later, it appears that you have passed the written exam. Congrats. You can go ahead and head down to the Practice Arena while I call for an Instructor for you placement Duel."

"Placement Duel? Don't I need to take another exam or something?"

"No, not anymore. With all the outside funding going to Private Academies, Central has imposed an open door policy for all applicants for the school. The more Duelists we have, the higher the probability we send one off to the pro circuit. That means more companies will be willing to sponsor our programs."

"Oh, I see. Well if that's all I got to do, I'll just head down now. Thank you for everything, Saber."

He turned, ran off back to the door, and headed down to the Dueling fields. Saber looked at the childhood picture of him and Jaden Yuki, Jaden holding up a peace sign and his arm around a slightly irritated Saber.

"That one...he kind of reminds me of someone." He started to laugh under his breath.

When he finally arrived to the arena, Skyler opened the double doors to see that the stadium-like arena was mostly empty, except for a few students Dueling for the fun. He made his way through the archways to the bleachers and sat down near a small group of students in yellow uniforms. Silently he waited for his name to be called, leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed.

After about a minute of silence, however, a figure with his hands in his yellow jacket walked over to stand in the isle next to Skyler's seat. Feeling a change in the flow of air, he looked up to see a teenager about his age with long, jet black hair hanging over one of his eyes ice blue eyes wearing an indifferent expression. The boy wore a long sleeved Ra Yellow jacket that was unzipped, revealing a black t-shirt underneath.

"That looks comfy. Mind if I join ya?" said the body with an upbeat voice that paralleled his facial expression.

Skyler raised an eyebrow.

"You want to sleep with me?"

The student furrowed his brow, taken aback by Skyler comment.

"I mean, do ya mind if I sit next ta ya."

"Oh! That makes more sense. Go right ahead."

The student sat down in the seat next to Skyler and leaned his head back, taking in a deep breath before letting out a loud sigh.

"So I take it you're the new transfer." He said.

"News travels fast around here."

"It get's pretty borin' around here, gossip's all we got. You're already the talk of campus."

"Great," Skyler announced as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I was hoping to get a little peace before I settled in. Can't imagine what would happen if I got ranked low in this Duel."

"Don't worry about it, you'll do fine. You gotta good look ta ya. Do me a favor, though, try ta get into Ra if ya can."

Skyler smirked. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

The student held out his hand, his face forming the faintest hint of a smile.

"Name's Taikereou Mana. Ya can just call me Tai. Everyone does."

Skyler reached out and shook Tai's hand. "Hey, I'm-"

The sound of a loud voice boomed through the stadium through the loud speaker.

"YUUSHI GALE. YUUSHI GALE. PLEASE REPORT TO ARENA NUMBER 5-A. YUUSHI GALE. PLEASE REPORT TO ARENA NUMBER 5-A."

Skyler let out a sigh. "I guess that's my cue."

Tai smirked and patted Skyler on the back as he stood up.

"Good luck, Gale."

The name stuck in Skyler's head as he walked down to the arena. He rather liked the sound of his new name through the mouth of a fellow student. As Skyler entered the arena, he looked to the other side of the field to see an Instructor. He set his backpack down next to him and pulled out his Duel Disk, putting his Deck inside.

The Instructor across from Skyler was an extremely tall man with short white hair, wearing a black jacket and pants.

He called from across the room. "Yuushi Gale. Are you ready?"

Skyler stood and silently nodded.


	3. Chapter 2: The Welcome Wagon

The Instructor called from across the room.

"My name is Professor Heaves. I will be your instructor for this exam. Are you ready, Mr. Gale?"

"Um, Gale is my first name, Yuushi is my surname."

"Oh, right, my bad. I'll take that as a 'yes' on the ready question."

"Actually I-"

Heaves drew a card from his Duel disk. "Enough with chatter, we must fight to the death!"

"What?" Skyler squeaked as he took a step back.

"I mean, Duel…that's what I meant…I guess I should wait until the Duel is over to start with the death threats, huh?

"What if we just skip the threats all together?"

Professor Heaves broke into laughter as he activated his first card. "Ha, you're a funny one. I'll start, if you don't mind. I play 'Call of the Mummy', letting me Special Summon the 'Boneyard Wyvern' from my hand."

As soon as he set the Monster Card on his Duel Disk, a large, skeletal dragon appeared with glowing red eyes. _[ATK: 2200 DEF: 2000]_

"Then I Set a monster and end my turn."

"Okay, my draw." Skyler drew a card and scanned over his available opinions.

"I Summon my 'Marauding Captain' to the field." He set the card on his Disk and Summoned a blonde, battle scared warrior wearing green armor. _[ATK: 1200 DEF: 400]_

"When he's Summoned, I get Special Summon my 'Crusader Knight Nixis' from my hand." It was then that a female knight with long blond hair, red armor, and a mace clutched in her hand appeared on the field. _[ATK: 1800 DEF: 1000]_

"Now I'll equip her with the Equip Spell Card 'Sword of Divine Wrath'. This card increases the ATK of a 'Crusader' monster by 500. Plus, when the monster destroys a DARK monster, I gain 1000 Life Points. Now attack his Wyvern!"

The attack connected and destroyed the instructor's monster, which brought his Life Points down to 3900 while Skyler's increased to 5000.

"Next I'll attack your facedown card with my Captain." The second monster on Skyler's field raised its sword and swung down on the facedown card, revealing it to be "The Lady in Wight". _[ATK: 0 DEF: 2200] _That attack backfired and inflicted 1000 points of damage back to Skyler, reducing his Life Points back to 4000.

"I play a card face-down and end my turn."

Heaves smiled and said, "Very good. I play the Spell Card 'Card Destruction'. Both of us send our hands to the Graveyard and then draw the same number."

The Instructor discarded three cards and Skyler discarded two, then they then both drew cards from their Decks.

"I then Tribute 'Lady in Wight' to Summon another 'Boneyard Wyvern'."

The skeletal woman monster suddenly erupted into purple flames and disappeared, only to be replaced by yet another fleshy, skeleton dragon.

"And when my Wyvern is Normal Summoned, I can remove from play 'Skull Servant' from my Deck."

A single card popped out of the Heave's Deck, which he proceeded to remove from the game.

"Since I sent a 'King of Skull Servants' as well as a 'Skull Servant' with that little trick, I'll play 'Book of Life', Special Summoning the 'King of Skull Servants' to the field as well as removing from play a monster from your Graveyard"

A tall, skeletal monster wearing a flowing, purple cloak rose out of the ground followed by the astral images of a "Skull Servant" and "The Lady in Wight". _[ATK:? DEF: 0]_

"My 'King' gains 1000 ATK for each 'Skull Servants', 'King of Skull Servants', and 'Lady in Wight' in the Graveyard, bringing him up to 2000. But that's not all, because I activate 'Boneyard Wyverns' second effect. I can pay 1000 Life Points to return all removed from play Zombie monsters to the Graveyard."

His bone dragon started to glow bright red, allowing the Instructor to add "Skull Servant" to his Graveyard as his Life Points dropped down to 2900.

"Now that my monster has 3000 ATK, I'll attack your Captain with my King. Go!"

Before the attack connected, Skyler pressed a button on the side of his Duel Disk, revealing the card that he had Set last turn.

"I active my facedown Trap Card, 'Action Defense', negating your monsters attack."

A barrier appeared around "Marauding Captain", protecting him against the oncoming attack.

"Nice save kid. But don't forget, I still have an attack left." At that, "Boneyard Wyvern" swooped down from the sky and took hold of "Marauding Captain" in its jaws, crushing it and reducing Skyler's Life Points to 3000.

"I'll end my turn."

Skyler started to feel a strong surge of energy moving from the core of his body to his fingertips as he drew his next card. The card had a picture of a cute, baby bat, smiling happily up at Skyler as if it had been waiting for him to draw it.

"First I'll play 'Future Fusion' and send monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard, then, after 2 turns, I get to Fusion Summon the monster that they would have formed. But right now, I'll attack your Wyvern."

"Crusader Knight Nixis" lunged forward and swung her mace down on the neck of the Instructor's monster, crushing the dragon's head. The instructor's Life Points reduced to 2800, while at the same time Skyler's Life Points increased to 4000.

"Then I'll play a card facedown and finally I Set a monster. Turn end."

A slightly cynical expression dominated the Instructor's face as he drew his next card.

"Now this is interesting. I've attacked you several times yet your Life Points of still at 4000. This is shaping up to be a fun Duel. With that in mind, I play 'Mystical Space Typhoon', destroying your facedown card."

At that moment, a small vortex formed itself just over Skyler's facedown "Mirror Force", sucking it up into a seemingly bottomless pit.

"Bitch, don't bring that weak ass sh** ta my kitchen."

Skyler raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I mean… that was a good strategy. Anyway, I Summon a second 'King of Skull Servants' to the field, which is also at 3000 ATK. Say goodbye to your monsters."

Heave's monster rushed forward and stabbed its boney hand through the stomach of the female knight. She shattered to pieces and reduced Skyler's Life Points by 700. The second "King of Skull Servants" rushed forward soon after and attacked Skyler's facedown monster, causing it to flip face-up. A tiny, baby bat appeared on the field with its wings folded inwards, thus blocking the brutal attack of the Heaves' monster. _[ATK: 100 DEF: 100]_

"What the hell is that?"

Skyler couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the Instructor's question before he explained the card.

"It's called 'Bup'. Once per turn, he can't be destroyed by anything. Also, when he's sent to the Graveyard, he's removed from play."

"Very well, then, it looks like you saved yourself for now. I end my turn."

Skyler drew a card and examined his hand carefully.

He though to himself, {Nothing to attack with yet, I have to defend my Life Points until I can get something stronger out.}

"I play 'Conversion of Greed'. I remove from play 1 'Crusader Knight' monsters to draw 2 cards."

A smile crept across Skyler's face as he viewed the card that he had just drawn, a winning strategy started formulated in his mind.

"Now I Summon 'Crusader Squire Pemnon'."

A small panel of light appeared on Skyler's side of the field, flashing a light upwards that coalesced into the image of a teenage-looking knight in leather armor and chocolate brown hair. _[ATK: 800 DEF: 1000]_

"My 'Pemnon' has the ability to bypass all your monsters and attack your Life Points directly. Now go with 'Trick Knives'!"

"Crusader Squire Pemnon" proceeded to jump towards Professor Heaves' monsters only to somersault over them and throw a barrage of throwing knives at him. His Life Points dwindled to 2100.

"Then I'll activate 'Book of Moon', switching 'Pemnon' into facedown Defense Position. That'll do it for now."

The instructor drew a card after which he perked up his lips and furrowed his brow.

"Well looks like I'm in a pickle. If I use both of my monsters to destroy 'Bup', your 'Pemnon' will be there next turn from another direct attack. And if I attack your Pemnon your 'Bup' will stay on the field. Decisions, decisions."

"Are you actually monologue-ing?"

"Dueling 101: monologue your next moves rather than let the game play out."

Skyler tilted his head to the side. "That doesn't make any sense! And by the way, what's with all these little quips? Do you practice you these lines in the mirror every morning before you shave or something?"

"Elementary, my young pupil," Heaves said with a grin with his pointer and thumb touching his chin. "Here at Central, we pride ourselves in our ability to turn a phase and make light of every situation, even in the face of defeat."

The young Duelist shook his head and let out a sigh.

"You guys should reassess you're priorities. If you didn't spend all you're time with word play and hiring instructors with nice butts you might get some more funding."

"Ha, well what can I say I-" chuckled Professor Heaves just before he stopped himself after realizing what had been said. "What was that thing about butts?"

"Nothing, let's just get this Duel over with."

The instructor seemed at a loss for words for a few seconds before he shrugged off what he thought he heard.

"Anyway, I equip my 'King of Skull Servants' with 'Opti-Camouflage Armor', giving it the ability to attack you directly."

Suddenly, "King of Skull Servants" was adorned with silver armor, allowing him to bypass all of Skyler's monsters and swipe its boney fingers down on him, reducing his Life Points to 300. His second bone specter then proceeded to destroy the facedown "Crusader Squire Pemnon".

"I'll then Set a card and end my turn."

The Instructor thought to himself, already planning the victory that he was sure to achieve.

{With "Dark Bribe", if tries any Spells, I can negate it. And if he manages to somehow Summon a monster strong enough to destroy one of my 'Kings', I can still activate its ability to Special Summon it back to the field for a defensive. I got this.}

"Yuushi Gale, it's over. From this experience, I would say you'd rate a 2 out of 5. Don't be to hard on yourself, I here the Slyfer cuisine has made a lot of improvements."

"Um..." Skyler started as he pointed down at the field. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

His line of sight moved from Skyler to the field to see that "Future Fusion" was still on the field from two turns ago.

"Two turns ago I sent my 'Crusader Knight Allie' and 'Youthful Crusader Squire' from the Deck to the Graveyard. That means that now I can Fusion Summon the monster that those 2 cards make! I Summon 'Crusader Knight Gallent'!"

As soon as Skyler removed "Future Fusion" from the field, a blonde knight wearing golden armor while carrying a large broadsword and shield appeared on the field in a battle position. _[ATK: 1800 DEF: 1800]_

Heaves made a distinct scoffing sound and shrugged his shoulders. "That was a little anti-climactic. Both of my monsters are stronger than that thing-"

Cutting the instructor's monologue short, he stopped talking as soon as Skyler banished a monster from his Graveyard.

"You haven't heard his effect yet. Once per turn, I can banish a Warrior monster from my Graveyard to have 'Gallent' it gains that monsters effect and half its ATK. And since I just banished 'Pemnon', my knight gains 400 ATK and can attack you directly."

"Crusader Squire Pemnon's" brown armor appeared over the gold armor of "Crusader Knight Gallent" as its ATK increased to 2200. Meanwhile, the Instructor looked from his hand to the cards he controls, frantically searching for a way to activate any of the cards he controlled to evade the oncoming assault.

"No, no way…I can't-"

Skyler lifted his arm to point at the Instructor from across the field.

"You want a monologue? Here's one for ya! Open wide and get ready, cause you're about to get a taste of my sword."

A silence echoed across the arena followed by a few scattered giggles from the stands.

"What?" Mr. Heaves exclaimed.

"'Gallent'! Bring it!"

Mimicking the motions of "Crusader Squire Pemnon', the knight somersaulted over Heaves' monsters and its sword at him. Professor Heaves stood there in shock for a few seconds before he realized that his Life Points had reached zero.

He fell to his knees at his loss, letting his arms drop to the floor. After a few seconds to regain his composure, he stood and gave Skyler a smile.

"Congratulations, Yuushi Gale, you have won your placement exam. As such, I am proud to place you in Ra Yellow."

Feeling a sense of victory, Skyler clenched his fists and cocked them inwards.

"Yes!"


	4. Chapter 3: Collision of Fire and Ice

It was early when Skyler woke up, the morning sun casting a sliver of light through the small crease between the blue curtains of his new dorm room. It wasn't as large and extravagant as his old room but it was more than enough for him. Everything from meeting new people to washing his own dishes in the floor bathroom was a new experience for the former Duel Class prodigy.

He twisted his body around in bed and then started to contort his body into a series of brief stretch to allow his muscle to breath. He was wearing only his light blue boxers and a white t-shirt which clung to his muscular frame, which was covered with a few scattered scars. After he was done stretching, Skyler leaned forward and fell towards, only to catch himself a moment before impact and began to do pushups.

Suddenly, a pillow was thrown from across the room and struck Skyler in the head. He looked up to see his roommate laying on his bed under a thick, black comforter, an arm protruding out of a small opening in the cocoon of covers.

A husky voice sounded from underneath the covers.

"Dude, it's, like, five o'clock in the morning. Class doesn't start for another three hours, man."

Skyler stood from his exercise and pulled on a pair of pants on along with a black wife-beater and yellow shirt.

"Sorry about that. I'm kinda used to the regiment of waking up at the crack of dawn and working out. I could always use a little company. How about it?"

The top of the comforter opened to reveal a student about the same age as Skyler with a thick, muscular physique, white hair, and peach-fuzz. The student looked at Skyler with a drowsy face.

"Yo, man, I'm all for exercise, but that's just nuts. I need my 18 hours or I'm useless. So unless your making a run to the someplace where they sell mattresses, I'm gonna have to pass, bro."

He retreated into his covers, falling back to sleep in a matter of seconds. Skyler let out a sigh and shrugged, tying his shoelaces as he spoke to his roommate.

"You know, back home the only time I really had any time to think was while exercising. It was kinda freeing, you know what I mean?" said Skyler to his fast asleep roommate. "Yeah, he get's it."

As soon as he finished tying his shoes, Skyler headed out the door and into the palely light dawn.

Making sure to slow his pace so that he could take in all the scenery, Skyler ran along the shore of the island. Back at Gailson Manor, what little free time he had Skyler spent on the roof, admiring his family's enormous estate overlooking a vast forest of redwood that would radiate brilliant shades of crimson and yellow in the fall.

Just as he started to drift off into one of his better memories, a rock shot out from seemingly nowhere, aimed right at Skyler's head. Without thinking, Skyler stopped dead in his tracks and in a fluid motion caught the rock in before it could hit him.

Standing on a raised plateau a few yards away was a student in a blue jacket with short, brown hair and distinctly large, bushy eyebrows. Skyler looked up to meet the student's face which had contorted into a sinister grimace. Skyler narrowed his eyes and dropped the rock.

After a brief moment of intense silence, Skyler broke the glare with a friendly smile.

"Well hey there! I think you dropped your rock. You ought to be more careful when throwing stuff like this around, someone could get hurt."

The student's menacing smirk disappeared as he dismounted from the plateau and landed a few yards from Skyler on a hand and knee. Despite his efforts to look dramatic, however, the landing did not go as the student had planned as he landed on a tilted foot. The Obelisk Blue bit his lower lip to cut himself off from screaming bloody murder, the edges of his eyes watering up.

"_Scusa_, but I couldn't help myself. You looked like you were deep in thought. I just wanted to see for myself if the rumors were true about the new Ra whom everyone is talking about."

Trying to make out the boys English, Skyler tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"People are talking about me?"

The student ran his finger through his hair and again made a sinister smile.

"Apparently so. Here at Central, the more people that notice you the better your chances of you moving up in the world. That's why I'm here to help you out that department. I'm the head of the student organization that helps chumps like you get a leg up on your fellow classmate. Play your cards right and I might just adopt you in as a pledge. What do you say?"

Too distracted by Matt's appearance to really listen to what he was saying, Skyler snapped back into the conversation when he noticed the student had finished speaking

"Sorry, could you say that again? I kinda zoned out for a bit there while staring at your eyebrows. They're just so huge! Are they real?"

The boy's eye started to twitch at the shear bluntness of Skyler's question, his fists clenched in rage.

"You think you're funny, do ya?" he asked with narrow eyes. "You think you can just walk around insulting Matt Bianchi like that and get away with it? Not by a long shot, my friend. The last thing this Academy needs is another blowhard Jaden Yuki, messing with the ranks. You don't want to make an enemy of the Kindachi."

"Jaden-who? The Kin-wha?" Skyler said, scratching his head.

A large vain started to pulse on Matt's forehead as he reached into a bag and pulled out two Duel Disks.

"_Idiota!_Don't you play dumb with me! You're trying to make me look like a fool. Well it's time that you learn some respect! Get your Deck out, we're going to Duel."

Skyler narrowed his eyes as he looked from Matt's bag to the Duels disk then back up to Matt.

"Why did you bring two Duel Disks?"

"Originally I wanted to test you to see if you had what it took to side beside me. Now I see that I'm going to have to wipe the floor with you to show you whose king around here!" said Matt as he threw the Duel Disk over to his opponent. "Yuushi Gale, you've had it easy since you got here, but I'm going to make sure that by the end of this Duel you'll realize how things are supposed to work."

The Duel Disk activated as Skyler slipped it to his arm, placing his Deck into its holster.

"Whatever you say, Bushy, lets just get on with it, cause I want to get back to exercising."

"Time to put you in your place, smart ass. _Andiamo!_ I Summon my 'Masked Dragon' to the field. Then I play two cards face-down, ending my turn. You're move Gay."

He placed the card on the Duel Disk causing a masked, red dragon appeared to appear on the field. [ATK: 1400 DEF: 1100]

"Oh, very clever, like I've never heard that one before…actually, I haven't, but it's still not that clever!"

Skyler drew a card then proceeded to Summon a monster.

"I Summon 'Crusader Knight Guadric' in Attack Position." A longhaired, male knight in silver armor emerged from the center of the field, jumping backwards into an offensive position. [ATK: 1500 DEF: 800]

"Go 'Guadric', destroy his dragon!"

The warrior drew his sword and lunged forward in the direction of Matt's monster.

"I activate my face-down card, 'Sakuretsu Armor', destroying your monster before its attack connects."

The Trap Card flipped up and started to shine, creating an aura around Matt's "Masked Dragon" just as "Crusader Knight Guadric" brought his sword down. The aura erupted and shot out an array of lights, destroying 'Crusader Knight Guadric'. Skyler braced himself from the explosion then looked over at Matt, who, at that point, had a cocky smile on his face.

"Rookie mistake, Gay."

Skyler narrowed his eyes and placed one card facedown. "I end my turn."

"My move!" Matt drew a card, chuckling as a strategy started to form in his mind.

"I'm going to tribute my 'Masked Dragon' to Summon 'Tiger Dragon'!"

He then sent "Masked Dragon" to the Graveyard and Summoned a long necked dragon covered in orange and black fur. [ATK: 2400 DEF: 1800]

"Say goodbye to your face-down card, because when it's Summoned, 'Tiger Dragon' lets me destroy up to 2 of your Spell or Trap Cards!"

"Tiger Dragon" opened its mouth and released a torrent of flame, burning Skyler's facedown "Mirror Force" until it shattered.

"Then I activate my facedown card, 'Rush Recklessly', increasing my monsters ATK by 700 for the turn. Attack his Life Points directly!"

The monster opened it mouth and released yet another torrent of flames, this time at Skyler, reducing his Life Points to 900. Just as the attack of the "Tiger Dragon" connected with Skyler, he revealed a Trap Card from his hand.

"I activate the Trap Card 'War Horn'. When I control no cards and take direct damage, I can activate it from my hand and inflict damage to you equal to the damage I took. Plus, I get to Summon a Warrior from my hand with half the ATK of the damage."

Skyler set the Trap Card on the field and produced a hologram of a green horn with golden designs along its surface. It was then that a beam of light shot out of the end of the instrument, which proceeded to coalesce into the form of a little girl in armor. The girl slashed her sword down at Matt, his Life Points the same as Skyler's.  
"The card I choose is 'Crusader Squire Tyia'. And when she's Special Summoned, I get to Summon the other two 'Crusader Squire Tyia' from my Deck or hand."

The blond little girl in over-size silver and blue armor landed perfect in the center of the field in a crouching position followed by two other girls appearing at her side. [ATK: 500 DEF: 200]

Matt grunted as he placed a card facedown, his eyes narrowing in the direction of the three squires.

"Lucky shot, but it won't happen again. I end my turn."

"Good. My turn, I draw. I Summon my 'Crusader Squire Pemnon' to the field along with the Equip Spell Card 'Sword of Divine Wrath', increasing the ATK of my monster to 1300, meaning that once this attack connects, I'll win the Duel. Go, attack with 'Trick Blade'!"

The teenage-looking knight unsheathed a glowing sword and lunged forward. Matt smirked as he pressed a button on the side of his Duel Disk.

"During the Damage Step, I activate the Trap Card 'Rainbow Life'. By discarding 1 card, I can increase my Life Points by the amount I would loss during this turn."

The knight's attack collided with a rainbow barrier that absorbed the force of the assault and transferred it to Matt's Life Point, which became 2200.

Even though Skyler had found himself in the middle of a difficult situation, he nevertheless tried to keep his mind clear and focus on the Duel.

"I play the Spell Card 'Book of Moon', switching my 'Crusader Squire Pemnon' into facedown Defense Position. That'll do it for me."

"_Tocca a me. _When I control another Dragon, I can Special 'Burst Release Draon' to the field. Destroy his facedown monster, with 'Icy Doom' and then, 'Tiger Dragon', destroy his other monster with 'Tiger Flame'!"

A swift wind proceeded to coalesce in the center of the field to form into a block of ice, to which a light blue dragon emerged from. [ATK: 1600 DEF: 200]

It opened its mouth and breathed a stream of compressed cold air over the facedown "Crusader Squire Pemnon", destroying the monster. Then the large striped dragon released a torrent of flames, destroying one of Skyler's "Crusader Knight Tyia".

"Next turn, you're going down."

Skyler shut his eye tight, his hand moving to the top of his Deck. He drew a card and placed it in facedown Defense Position. "It's all I can do for now."

"What a sad sight. You only just entered Central and you're already coming up short!"

After he drew a card, Matt Summoned a light blue reptilian looking monster in Attack Position. [ATK: 2200 DEF: 0]

"Come on out, 'Whirlpool Serpent'. You're going to love this; when it destroys a monster, you take damage equal to its DEF. Which means, even with you monster in defense mode, you'll still loss Life Points!"

The monster attacked and reduced Skyler's Life Point to 700. Matt continued his onslaught by having his "Burst Release Dragon" destroy Skyler's final "Crusader Squire Tyia". After that, Matt's "Tiger Dragon" charged, making the facedown monster flip face up, revealing the image of a small, blonde boy with a wooden sword.

"I activate the flip effect of the monster you just destroyed, 'Youthful Crusader Squire'. When he's flipped, I can banish any number of 'Crusader Squire' monsters from my Grave to draw the same amount, which at the moment is 4."

Skyler then proceeded to draw four cards from his deck.

"Also, I gain 500 Life Points for every Warrior-Type monster I draw. And I drew 2." He revealed a 'Crusader Knight Nixis' and a 'Crusader Knight Allie' in his hand, after which his Life Points increased to 1700.

"Fine then. After my 'Whirlpool Dragon' destroys a monster, it's sent to the Graveyard at the end of the turn. I'll finish things off by playing a card facedown and ending my turn."

Matt smirked as he set his card facedown, a clear image of what he was planning to do next forming in his mind.

Skyler drew a card from his Deck. "I Summon 'Crusader Knight Nixis' in Attack Position, and then I move directly to my Battle Phase, attacking your 'Tiger Dragon'. But that's not all cause I activate the effect of my 'Crusader Knight Allie'. By discarding him from my hand while I control a "Crusader" monster, I can decrease the ATK of a monster it's attacking by 1000 during damage calculation."

As soon as Skyler discarded "Crusader Knight Allie" from his hand, an astral image of the monster, a knight in silver armor and long blonde hair, appeared behind "Tiger Dragon", stabbing it in the back, thus decreasing its ATK to 1300.

"Crusader Knight Nixis" swung her mace down on the head of the dragon, destroying it and reducing Matt's Life Points to 1700.

"That's it for now. Your move."

"Enjoy that victory, cause it's not going to last, Gay." Matt said as he drew a card and chuckled under his breath. "Perfect! I play 'Pot of Greed' letting me draw two more cards, and then I'll attack your monster with my 'Burst Release Dragon!"

Skyler looked at Matt in confusion as his dragon released a flow of compressed cold air at the female elf, making her lunge forward at her attacker. The two monsters collided in the middle of the ring, "Burst Release Dragon" thus destroying itself and reducing Matt's Life Points to 1500.

"I banished my 'Masked Dragon', 'Whirlpool', 'Burst Release' to Summon 'Frost and Fire Dragon'!" With that, Matt Summoned an enormous dragon that encompassed the entire length of his side of the field. The large orange and blue dragon had one head cover in shards of ice while the other was magma red. [ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000]

"Now is activate its effect, letting me discard a card to destroy one monster you control!"

As soon as Matt discard the last card in his hand, the two heads of the dragon centered in on Skyler's monster and breathed a fusion of fire and ice, destroying "Crusader Knight Nixis".

"I'll end my turn by activating 'Safe Zone'. With this, my Dragon can't be destroyed by anything! Face it, _E sopra_."

"I don't understand what you just said, but I assume it was an insult, so screw you! Get a few good cards out on the field and you think you have the entire Duel wrapped up. Let me show you what it means to have faith in your cards."

Skyler slowly took the top card from his Deck and looked at it.

"Nice. I activate the Spell Card, 'Polymerization'. With this card, I'll fuse together the 'Crusader Knight Guadric' and 'Crusader Squire Pemnon' In my hand. The light of my monsters fuse together to form a new monster: 'Crusader Knight Baron'!"

The two monsters jumped upwards a merged together, forming into a large, rugged-looking knight in silver armor, a large sword. [ATK: 1900 DEF:1400]

"When he's Summoned, I get to add an Equip Card to my hand from my Deck. So I equip my monster with 'Lightning Blade'!" Skyler searched through his Deck and pulled out the Equip Spell Card, slipping it into the Spell and Trap Card Zone directly beneath the monster.

"With this card my monster's ATK becomes 2700, but that not all, because when 'Baron' inflicts Battle Damage, you lose an additional 800 Life Points for each Equip Spell on him."

Suddenly a surge of electricity shot through the body of "Crusader Knight Baron" causing its ATK to rise. The knight then pointed its sword at Matt's "Frost and Fire Dragon", sending out a stream of lightning at the dragon which surrounded it and reduced its ATK to 1800.

Matt looked on in horror at the sight of his monster reaction to the lightning that was now surrounding its body.

"What the hell? Why is my monster losing ATK?"

"In addition to its normal effect, 'Lightning Blade" decreases the ATK of all WATER monsters on the field by 500, making the difference between our two monsters exactly 900, plus the extra damage of 800, bringing the total up to exactly 1700! Now go my knight, destroy his dragon!"

"Crusader Knight Baron" raised his sword and rushed forward, slashing the dragon down right down the middle where it's two headed intersected with its body. The dragon roared and erupted into a massive explosion which hit Matt and knocked him off his feet just as his Life Points hit 0. The smoke cleared as Skyler started to put his Deck back into the holster that let him carry his Deck around with him everywhere he went then threw the Duel Disk back to Matt.

"Thanks for the Duel. You almost had me there."

Matt stood and scowled over at Skyler, grabbing his Duel Disk. "Don't you patronize me, you yellow _stronzo_! This isn't over, this isn't the last you've heard of the Kindachi!" He turned and ran back towards the school, grunting as he ran with a limp.

The duel spirit of "Bup" appeared on Skyler's shoulder, tilting its head.

"Tweee?"

Skyler lifted a hand to the spirit and petted it on the head. "Don't worry,. I'm sure not everyone at this school is like that…at least I hope not. Or at least if they are I hope I can at least understand what most of them are saying."

Skyler proceeded to lace up his shoes back up then turned to complete his morning run, the sun now just over the horizon.


	5. Chapter 4: What's Buggin' You?

Only a few days had passed since the incident with Matt, and although he and Skyler were completely alone when they Dueled, word had somehow spread like wildfire through campus. As the story spread, rumors of Skyler's victory became more and more exaggerated, launching him once again further into the lime light, much to the dismay of the young Duelist.

On one hand, Skyler took pride in the fact that he was being recognized for his skills as a Duelist rather than his family's position. On the other hand, all that attention made him feel like everyone at Central was watching his every move, just waiting for him to slip up. Not to mention he had to be careful about making sure that his new unwanted reputation didn't reach the ears of anyone that could link him to his past.

Skyler was sitting quietly at his Desk for first period to start when the warning bell rang, prompting the rest of the students to file in. As they walked down the aisles towards their seats, groups of students glanced over at Skyler, whispering about him under their breath.

As he let out a deep sigh, Taikerou walked over and casually took the vacant seat next to Skyler, his nap sack flung over his shoulder. He mirrored his friends sigh as he leaned back in his chair, propped his feet up on the desk, and placed his nap sack on his lap.

"Word on the street says after ya FTK'd Matt ya beat the crap outa him and stole his lunch money." Taikerou said in a monotone voice.

Skyler ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the ceiling.

"Don't people around here have anything better to do than gossip?"

Taikerou allowed a small smirk as he reached into his sack and pulled out a stack of photos. To help Skyler adjust to his new life at Central, he volunteered to help his new friend with his unwanted fame. As the photographer for the Academy news paper, he made it his business to know every student and all their dirty little secrets, which gave him a reputation of his own around school.

He extended to fingers and lightly retrieved a photo from the middle of the stack and set it in front of Skyker. The photo was of a girl with long, pink hair in a Slyfer Red jacket that match her red cheeks as she scowled at the person taking the picture.

"Like it 'er not, Gale, that match with Matt made ya the hot topic around the school, which means now ya gotta target on your back that says 'Fresh meat trying to mess with the status quo, come and get it'."

Skyler let out a grown and slammed his head against the table. "It never ends! Can't I just Duel one person without it being a big deal."

"Ya could, but that'd make the story borin'. Now stop whinnin' and listen cause I'm trying ta give ya a heads up here. If ya plan ta survive here, ya need ta know what you're up against. All these photos're of the top students at Central, which means, in all likelihood, you're gonna ended up Duelin' 'em."

He sat up in his chair and placed a finger on the photo, sliding it closer to Skyler.

"This is Sage Thompson, born in the States, California, and top in Slyfer. Don't let her position here fool ya, cause she's on the fast track ta a promotion ta Obelisk. She even has a few potential sponsors."

Following up, he took out another photo and set to the one of Sage. The photo depicted a pale, gangly looking boy with long red hair and thin-rimmed glasses lying out on the roof of the school, relaxing as he soaked up the sun light.

"Robby Burroke, born in Quebec, Canada, where his family owns a chain of hotels. He's a pretty good kid 'cept he don't really play with a full Deck, if you know what I mean."

"What, like a Side Deck?" said Skyler with an upwards inflection.

Taikerou stared blankly at Skyler for a few seconds before disregarding the comment all together. After looking through a few more photos, Taikerou finally came to Matt Bianchi's. The picture itself looked like it had been taken while the Italian Duelist was in the middle of swim practice due to the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt and had a towel draped over his shoulders. Skyler eyes grew wide as soon as the photo came into view.

"And you've already met the Italian tool of the school known formally as Mathew Bianchi. I got this photo from one of his fan girls."

Before he had the chance to put the photo back into the pile, Skyler snatched it out of his hand.

"Wait, this is Matt? Wow, he looks a lot different without those huge eyebrows distracting me from his face and bode! Dang, he must work out like a beast!"

Taikerou leaned back in his chair a little and looked at his friend with a furrowed brow, his mouth slightly agape.

"Um…ya wanna rephrase that, bro?"

Looking up from the photo, Skyler turned to Taikerou and tilted his head slightly to the side like a bewildered puppy.

"No, I'm just saying that he looks good in the picture. Especially without a shirt on. Why, did I say something wrong?"

Taikerou scratched his head, trying to think back to all the times he hung out with Skyler.

"Um...Gale…you aren't…I mean, I don't care either way, but…I mean are you…"

Skyler merely continued to stare at his friend trying to a force out the question on his mind.

"N…never mind, it ain' important." He said before turning back to his deck and placing his head on the table.

{Happy thoughts, Taikerou…just think happy thoughts}

Suddenly, a heavy set of books slammed against the table, snapping Skyler and Taikerou to attention. They both looked up you to see what looked like boy with spiky, green hair, glaring at Skyler with his deep navy blue eyes.

Irritated by the students rude entrance, Taikerou sat up and was about to speak up when Skyler cut him off.

"Hi there! You should be more careful with those books, I hear if they get damaged too bad you have to pay a fine." Skyler said with an inappropriately cheerful voice.

Taikerou tapped on Skyler's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Gale, no, annoyance. That's the correct response to the situation."

"Annoyed by what?"

"Yuushi Gale," The boy said in a stern voice as he crossed his arms, causing his oversized obelisk blue poof out like dough rising in an oven. "I have a bone to pick with you."

"Umm…okay. What's on your mind?"

The student narrowed his eyes. "I want you to tell me what the hell you did to my buddy, Matt! Ever since you two Dueled, he's been pushing everyone away and stopped talking to me completely!"

"Me? Nothing, I just beat him in a Duel. Not my fault if he over-reacted. Did you try giving him lots of hugs? That usually works for me."

Taikerou let out a deep sigh and he pushed his black hair out of his face.

"This does not bode well. Want some advice, rich boy? Stop bitchin' 'bout your boyfriend dumpin' ya and find someone who gives a shit. I'm sure your daddy's trust fund is big enough to buy you a new friend."

The student reached over and grabbed Taikerou by the collar, pulling him up so that they were eye to eye.

"You want to repeat that, you Adam-Lambert-humping-emo-wannabe?"

Taikerou reached up and grabbed the student wrist, forcing it down to the desk with a loud bang.

"Don't test me."

The two students stared each other down for a few seconds until the doors at the front of the classroom opened and Saber Nitephyer entered the room, a cheerful smile on his face. Taikerou and the student separated as soon as he walked in, quickly returning to their seats. Saber set his folders down on his desk and turned to face the class.

"Alright students, for the passed three days we have been reviewing Duel Theory based of difference in card archetypes. Today, we are going to get to experience the practice first hand. Would Yuushi Gale and Kira Monos please come down to the front of the class?"

Skyler stood from his chair and looked across the room to see the same green-haired Obelisk student as before. Skyler looked down at Taikerou.

"Wow, what a weird…what's the word?"

Taikerou smirked and waved his hand dismissingly. "Plot device?"

Saber clapped his hands together loud enough to make every student in class jump in their seats while retaining his smile.

"Come on, come on. We don't have all day."

The two students walked down to the front of the room, each standing to the side of Saber.

"Now, I've seen both of you Duel before so I know that you each have distinct card archetypes. I want you to demonstrate for the class the proper techniques and strategies of your Decks and how to properly use your cards to their maximum potential. Now, stand on opposite sides of the room. As for the rest of the class, you can gather around to get a better look."

Almost instantly, every student in the class, with the exception of Taikerou, rushed into all available seating up front to get a better look at the Duel. The two Duelists inserted their Decks into their Duel Disk and activated them.

"I'll go first." Skyler said as he drew his first card and examined his hand.

"I Summon my 'Crusader Knight Nixis' along with a card face-down and end my turn." He placed the monster card on the field, making a female knight appear on the field along with the hologram of a facedown card behind her. _[ATK: 1800 DEF: 1000] _

"Consider this pay back for what you did to Matt. I Summon my 'Pinch Hopper' to the field and then activate 'Insect Imitation'. With this card, I can Tribute one monster on my side of the field to Special Summon an Insect monster from my Deck that's a Level higher. So I choose my 'Ultimate Insect LV5'."

As soon as "Pinch Hopper" appeared to the field, it imploded in on itself, turning into a shining, green egg. The egg cracked open and released a large, level five insect to the field. _[ATK: 2300 DEF: 900]_

"And when my Pitch Hopper is removed from the field, I get to Special Summon another Insect monster from my hand, so choose 'Howling Insect'. Now take out his 'Crusader'!"

Kira then proceeded to place the card on his Duel Disk, Summoning to the field a large, blue cricket. _[ATK: 1200 DEF: 1300]_ "Ultimate Insect LV5" lifted its leg a slashed at "Crusader Knight Nixis", causing the monster to shatter. The shockwave smacked Skyler, dealing him the difference of 500 points.

"Now I'll attack you're Life Points directly with my 'Howling Insect'. Sick 'em!"

The giant cricket jumped forward and attacked Skyler directly, reducing his Life Points to 2300.

Some of the bystanders gasped at this exchange, while Taikerou, who was in the back row, looked on with an indifferent expression, brushing his sleek, black hair away from his face. Kira ended his turn, followed swiftly by Skyler drawing a card.

"I activate the magic of 'Polymerization', fusing together the 'Crusader Knight Allie' and 'Youthful Crusader Squire' in my hand in order to form 'Crusader Knight Gallent'!"

Skyler proceeded to discard the two monsters from his hand, which in turn Summoned a blond knight in shining armor with a large sword. Every student in the room stared in awe as the shining knight unsheathed his blade. _[ATK: 1800 DEF: 1800]_

"When he's Summoned, I can banish a 'Crusader' monster from the Graveyard to gain its effect and half its original ATK. I'll take out 'Nixis', increasing the ATK of my monster by 900 points."

The ATK of "Crusader Knight Gallent" increased to 2700 as the red armor of "Crusader Knight Nixis" appeared on the monster. The knight rushed forward and slashed at the insect, cutting it in half and inflicting 400 point of damage to Kira's Life Points.

"I play a monster in face-down Defense Position and end my turn."

One of the students whispered to another student. "Why did he do that? If I were him, I would have destroyed his 'Howling Insect" and taken him down to 2500."

A light scoff prompted the student to turn his head to see Taikerou just as he chimed in on the conversation.

"Cause he's actually Duelin' with a brain, which's bout the only thing it's really good for."

Skyler was just barely able to make out Taikerou's last comment.

"What's the only thing what's good for? You're not talking about me, are you, Tai?"

"Me? Nooo, oh course not. I'd never think of it, buddy." Taikerou chuckled before he continued with the conversation. "When it comes ta things like common sense and street smarts, Yuushi Gale doesn't fit the bill. Don't get me wrong, he's probably the coolest guy I've met, it jus' his head don't work like ours."

"What do you mean, 'not like ours'?" asked another students listening in on the conversation.

"The kid knows his Dueling. One day in class I looked off his paper for Duel Theorem class. Not only did he have the answer right, he incorporated multiple probability vectors into Bastion Theory on a whole different level than me."

"So what, he's Dueling genius?"

"Think 'bout it. His knight only gets that attack boost for a turn, so it would've been takin' out if he didn't destroy it first. Not ta mention bug boy over there obviously runs an 'Ultimate Insect' Deck, meaning he would've just Summoned 'Ultimate Insect LV3'. Then he would've sacked it next turn for another 'Ultimate Insect LV5'." Taikerou couldn't help but smirk in appreciation for his friend's Dueling skills. "Gale's no rookie."

He turned and started to walk out of the room.

The student who was talking before called after him as he left. "Hey, Tai, where you going? The class isn't over yet."

Without turning his head to address the student directly, Taikerou simply walked out the door as he said, "Duels with predictable outcomes bore me. I'mma go find a place to sleep."

As he passed through the threshold into the open air, Taikerou noticed a woman with short pink hair and wearing a black and white maid's uniform standing near the door, watching the Duel from a distance. Their eyes met for a only a second, however within that moment, Taikerou felt his own anger start to flare. He tore his eyes away from the deep grey, emotionless eyes of the maid and continued to walk away.


	6. Chapter 5: To Have Faith

The Duel continued as Kira drew his next card.

"My move, I'll play 'Cell Division', letting me create an exact clone of my 'Howling Insect'."

As soon as he set the card on his Duel Disk, Kira's insect monster stated to glow, and then it split into two, completely identical "Howling Insects" with the same ATK and Level.

"I then sacrifice my two monsters in order to Summon my 'Ultimate Insect LV7' along with 'Migration of Power'. You see, normally, my insects' effects only activates when they're Summoned through the effect of another 'Ultimate Insect'. But with 'Migration of Power', I can activate its effect now, decreasing your monsters ATK by 700."

[ATK: 2600 DEF: 1200]

His giant insect started to glow as soon as he set the Spell Card on his Duel slot. Skyler quickly pressed the button on the side of his Duel Disk in response to Kira's move, which activated his facedown card.

"I activate 'Divine Request'. When I control a 'Crusader' monster, I can negate the effect of any Spell or Trap card."

The hologram of Kira's "Migration of Power" Spell Card shattered.

"Doesn't make a difference, my 'Ultimate Incest' is still at 2600, more than enough to beat down your knight. Sick 'em!"

The giant incest proceeded to lunch itself into the air, dive bombing Skyler's monster and destroying it bringing his down to 1500.

"I play a card facedown and that'll do it for now."

Skyler drew then removed his facedown monster from the field and placed the new one.

"I Tribute my facedown monster to Summon 'Crusader Knight Temara' in attack mode!"

A tall, female warrior with purple hair and golden armor appeared on the field, her hand clutched on the pummel of her sheathed blade. [ATK: 2300 DEF: 1400]

Some of the men in the classroom stared in awe at the attractive-looking monster, some even going as far as make catcalls as he girls in class became disgusted with the boys' childish antic.

"Would you guys grow up? It's a freakin hologram!" said one of the girls.

The hologram of "Crusader Knight Temara" turned her head slightly to side glance at the group of boys, giving them an evil glare as she drew her sword. The men in the room fell silent.

Skyler cleared his throat, trying to recall what he had planned to do next.

"Anyway, I equip my monster with 'Lightning Blade', increasing its ATK by 800. Now attack!"

The gold armored monster lunged and jabbed her blade forward just as the Kira activated his facedown card.

"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card 'Card Guard'. By discarding a card, I can make it so all my monsters can't be destroyed by battle this turn."

A circular shield appeared in front the blade of "Crusader Knight Tamara", blocking it completely. As the blade struck the shield, however, the lightning that covered the blade jumped across the shield and struck Kira, decreasing his Life Points to 3100.

As soon as Skyler resolved his turn, his opponent sent his face-up monster to the Graveyard.

"I activate the effect of the monster in my hand, letting me tribute LV7 to let me bring out 'Ultimate Insect LV10'!"

Suddenly Kira's monster started to convolve a seize until finally burst open, its internal makeup spewing across the field, making everyone in the room flinch backward in revulsion, even the monster's owner. From the mixture of bug guts, an even larger, more demonic looking insect than the one before it came. [ATK: 3000 DEF: 1800]

"Ha! Don't blink, cause here comes the fun part!"

Astral tentacles shot out of the giant insect's body, latching onto "Crusader Knight Temara", decreasing her ATK by 1000.

"What do you think, Yuushi? Now your monster is totally defencless!"

Skyler crossed his arms and looked up at his monster being engrossed by his opponent disgusting beast.

"Hmm, that's weird, that looks just like the screen saver on Tai's lap top. I had no idea it was supposed to be of 'Ultimate Insect'. Except the lady there looks a lot happier than Temara."

It took Kira a few seconds before the Skyler's words seeped into his mind as well as the rest of the student's watching. Suddenly, a flash of realization jolted through everyone's minds, causing a wide variety of reactions through the room. Kira looked back up at the female knight being lift into the air by astral tentacle with a new, unwanted perspective. His entire face turned red, forcing him to cover a bloody nose that suddenly developed developed.

At that moment, under a nearby shady tree, Taikerou opened his eyes and sat straight up, his eyes narrow.

"...Death..."

Back in the classroom, Saber leaned back in his chair and continued to read his new addition of _Vogue._

"Oh, you crazy kids on your internet…"

Kira whipped the blood off his face then started to flail his arms around.

"You sick pervert, get your mind out of the gutter. You're not a Duelist, you're a clown, and a dead clown at that! You're done for. Destroy his monster!"

The giant insect raised its giant mantis claw, brought it down on "Crusader Knight Temara", and destroyed her, thus decreasing Skyler's Life Points to 600.

"Seriously," Skyler said as he drew a card. "Is that whole monologue thing something that everyone at Central does? It's really starting to bug me... Ha, I get it! Anyway, I activate the Spell 'Conversion of Greed', letting me banish my 'Crusader Knight Gallent' to draw two cards."

"Then I'll activate the effect of my "Crusader Knight Temara". By banishing her, I get to draw one more card."

He proceeded to banish the appropriate monsters and draw 3 new cards.

"Now I play 'Book of Moon', switching your monster into facedown Defense Position."

Kira's monster started to glow before it turned into a card and moved into the correct position. As soon as it did, the tentacles that once surrounded the monster disappeared.

"That's what I thought; your monster's effect only extends to my monsters while it's face-up. Which is why I'm going to do this-"

He then placed a monster card on his Duel Disk, Summoning a young brown-haired squire in brown, leather armor.

"I Summon 'Crusader Squire Pemnon'. Now that your monster is facedown, my monster has its full ATK and can attack your Life Points directly. Go!"

The monster jumped into the air, throwing a barrage of knives directly at Kira. His Life Points reduced by 800 to make the final count 2300.

"I Set a card facedown and end my turn."

{His Deck should be based on a basic insect Deck Scheme. He's already played 5 monster, 4 Spells, and 0 Trap. I still don't have a lot to go on. Hopefully 'Crusader's Divine Favor' will keep me safe for now.}

"Now it's my turn." Even before he looked at the card that he had drawn, Kira couldn't help but smirk at Skyler's obvious hidden trap strategy.

"I equip the Spell Card 'Rare Gold Beetle Armor' to my 'Ultimate Insect', increasing its ATK to 3500. Now whenever my monster attacks, you cannot activate any Trap Cards. Now, attack his monster and end this Duel once and for all!"

He flipped his monster back into face-up Attack Position and equipped it monster with the Spell Card. "Ultimate Insect LV10" took to the air and dive bombed "Crusader Squire Pemnon". The attack connected and created virtual explosion, causing dust to pick up and obscure the battle.

"Ha! I win! I WIN! I knew him winning against Matt was just a fluke! Wait…what!"

The dust settled, revealing that "Crusader Knight Pemnon" had in fact survived the assault along with Skyler's Life Points.

"Your monsters attack connected alright, just not with the monster you wanted. Don't you remember a few turns ago, when I Summoned 'Temara'?"

Kira memory flashed back to the turn when Skyler used his facedown monster as a Tribute to Summon "Crusader Knight Temara". He looked up to see the astral form of a warrior in red armor sitting in a defensive position on Skyler's side of the field.

"The card that I sent to the Graveyard was 'Necro Gardna', and by removing him from my Graveyard, I negated your monsters attack."

Biting his lower lip, Kira merely stared at his opponent menacingly as the astral warrior disappeared.

"Just cheap tricks. Next turn around, you're dead. Now hurry up and get on with your move."

"Fine with me, because I'm not going to try to convince you. I'm a pretty good duelist, but not the best. You sit there criticizing me and telling me what an awful person I am for beating Matt when in the end the only reason I won was because he refused to believe in his cards. He's a great Duelist and his cards had a clear advantage over mine, but in the end that wasn't enough. You have to have faith in your cards and use your head. Just like me." He shut his eyes as he drew a card from his Duel Disk.

Kira leered at Skyler, raising his hand to point in his direction. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Matt! He's twice the Duelist and person you'll ever be! No one else around here gave a damn about me except him. I was a nobody and he helped me make something of myself! So shut your mouth!"

"If you really have that little confidence in yourself, then I'm not sorry about this. I activate the second effect of 'Pemnon'. I can Tribute him during my Standby Phase to Special Summon his next stage of Knighthood. I Summon "Crusader Knight Penneos."

Skyler then removed "Pemnon" from the field and replaced it a new monster. The hologram of the squire remained on the field, except it grow in stature and was suddenly covered in brand new brown and gold armor and clothing. The hooded knight jumped into Attack Position with a large dagger and a wooden shield. [ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000] As soon as the monster was Summoned to the field, the tentacle from "Ultimate Insect LV10" latched onto it, decreasing his ATK to 600.

"Go ahead and believe what you want about me, Kira, but I'm ending this now. Go "Crusader Knight Penneos" and attack his monster."

The monster sprinted swiftly across the field toward Kira's "Ultimate Insect LV10".

"That's your plan? Fine with me, go 'Ultimate Insect' and end this once and for all!"

The giant bug moved forward and attacked Skyler's monster, bringing its claw down on the knight. Just then, "Crusader Knight Penneos" held his shield out in front of himself, blocking the attack and absorbed all of the energy from assault into it.

"What the hell?"

"When 'Crusader Knight Penneos' is Summoned through the effect of 'Pemnon' and attacks a monster that is stronger than him, it can't be destroyed by battle and you take all the damage that I would have taken from it."

The monster leaped up and somersaulted over the head of the giant insect to land right in front of Kira. "Pemneos" held out his shield and released the energy that it had stored up, blasting Kira with the attack damage and reducing his Life Points to 0.

"What? No!"

The holograms disappeared as Skyler put his deck back into it holster. Realizing the Duel had finally ended, Saber snapped to attention to lazily reaffirm the results of the demonstration.

"The winner… Yuushi Gale."

Everyone in the room stood in amazement followed by loud cheers. The students in the room crowded around Skyler, patting him on the back and congratulating him. Despite all of the praise, Skyler pushed his way to the other side of the room to where Kira was standing, looking down at the floor.

"Matt…I'm sorry…" He looked over to see Skyler standing right in front of him. "Go ahead, take your shots."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, you know. I can tell that Matt really meant a lot to you, and for that I'm sorry if I messed up your relationship. But you can't let someone define you like that. You need to find your own path. But if you really need a friend," Skyler said as he held out his hand. "I can help you out there…"

Kira looked down at Skyler's hand, completely lost for words. After a few seconds of silence, he finally managed to crack a smile and clap his hand against Skyler's into a tight grip.

The two boys exchanged a warm smile, allowing the moment to last for a few seconds longer before unclentching their hands. Caught up in the moment, Skyler neglected to notice Taikerou strolling up behind him with an irritated expression. The black-haired Ra stopped directly behind his friend only to deliver a firm back hand to the back of Skyler's head.

"Bitch, I hear all!"


	7. Chapter 6: Mirror, Mirror

School for Skyler continued as usual for the next few weeks after he defeated Kira. Despite the fact that the Duel had once again given him more unwanted publicity from his school mates, he took pride in the fact that he had already made two friends of his own who were there because they liked him, rather than just his family.

As Skyler laid sound asleep in his bed, the images of his childhood began to haunt his dreams, forcing him to relive the parts of his life that he despised more than anything. Images of his youth swirled around him in a vortex of torment; the images making him experience his past over and over again, until finally the images stated to slow. The speed on the images continued to decrease until at last they all settle back into the darkness, leaving only one directly in front of Skyler. The image played like a video. As it progressed, it proceeded to engulf its surrounding until finally Skyler found himself standing right in the middle of the dream.

In front of him was his younger self, kneeling in front of a mirror and crying. The small boy of eight years old appeared inconsolable as he continued to cry and scream for his mother. Skyler looked from the boy on his knees to the reflection on the mirror. For some reason, however, the image on the surface of the mirror was not mimicking the actions of the small boy before it. Instead, the reflection of the younger Skyler seemed irritated by the cries of the child.

"Stop being such a coward, you ungrateful brat… This is why you were born. Do you realize how lucky you are? If you continue to deny it…"

The image reached out its hand and forced it through to the other side. The hand seemed to melt through the surface of the mirror as it reached out and grabbed the other boy by his bleach blond hair. The younger Skyler seemed to be too concerned with his own internal pain to realize that he was being pulled to his feet by his long hair. The reflection in the mirror moved its other hand forward, this time reaching towards the boy's chest.

"Then I'll just have to take it for myself…"

Young Skyler's screams grew louder as soon as the reflection touched his chest, its hand bursting with black and purple energy.

"You don't deserve this power…"

Suddenly, with one last breathe, the child screamed out at the top of his lunges, followed swiftly by a massive surge of light from his back. Gold and white light shot from his back in a pillar of cascading light, destroying the darkness of his surroundings. The light itself seemed to cause the reflection a great deal of pain as it retreated back into the safety of the mirror. The cascade of light coalesced to form 6 giant, feathered wings. The wing folded in on themselves, shielding the young Skyler in a cocoon of wings.

Skyler woke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, his heart beating erratically. The images from the dream seemed so real, so vivid, that it took him a few seconds before he realized that it was all just in his mind. The images, to him, felt more like reality than dreams. After a few minutes, Skyler managed to control his breathing patterns enough that he could stand up and lean himself against the wall. Lightly pushed his head against the wall over and over again.

{Get out of my head, dammit.}

Trying to forget the dream, he collapsed back onto bed. After another hour or so he was finally able to stand, get dressed, and go for his morning workout, trying hard not to relive the experience by trying to remember the dream.

Class started as usual, Skyler arriving before anyone else, followed soon after by Taikerou, who would walk in and sit next to him.

Right on schedule, Taikerou entered the room and took the sear to the right of Skyler, his backpack and camera in hand.

"Mornin', bro."

"Morning."

"Hey, ya feeling okay? Calvin said you were a little on edge last night: wakin' up and breathing hard all night."

Skyler felt a cold shiver run up his spine.

{Dammit, Calvin! He's always so freakin' quiet, I always forget he's even there.}

"Yeah, Tai, everything's fine. Just a bad dream."

Taikerou let out a sigh of relief as he pushed his long, black bangs out of his face.

"Cool, just wonderin'. So, did ya go over those photos I gave ya?"

Skyler looked upwards and scratched his cheek, trying to hide his lack of interest from his friend.

"Yeah, I was going to get to that, but I've been kinda busy." said Skyler as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a stack of photos. "By the way, some of these photos of school Duelists…they look sort of personal. How did you say you got them, again?"

Taikerou took the photos and silently placed them in his pack, saying only a few words.

"Let's just say I have my ways of gettin' info. Some people are more reluctant than others to just hand me their pics, so I have to do some…persuading."

He looked up at Skyler with an innocent, yet strangely unsettling smile.

"Oh…okay."

A flash of realization struck Taikerou's face, prompting him to pull out a flyer and handing it Skyler.

"I almost forgot, I wanted ta show ya this."

Skyler looked over the backside of the flier.

"I already have plenty of paper, Tai."

Taikerou let out a sigh, reached over, took the paper from Skyler's hand, and flipped it over to reveal the text.

"Ohhhh…"

In beautifully written, bolded letters, the flier read "International Limiter Breaker Tournament".

"It's a Duel Tournament that's gonna be held at Central. Meanin' that a couple of underrated kids like us get ta wipe the floor with some of the world's best Duelists. Whad'ya say?"

Among the different fonted and colored words of the flier that outlined the details of the competition it adverticed, a single word stuck out to Skyler more than any any other: International. The word once again cued his mind to go through its typical memory slide show, reminding him of the last time he was in an tournament where his family brought in high class duelist from all over the world just to duel him. With that thought in mind, Skyler becan to think about how he would be able to avoid so many high class Duelists on such a small island. With so many peircing eyes, there was bound to be a few that would recognize him.

"Yeah, I'm not that good with official tournaments."

"Aw, come on, bro." He said with a light whimper under his voice. "I know for a fact that one of us can win this; just look at the prize."

Taikerou pointed to the small print at the bottom of the page. Tai read the line, word for word, "'This Tournament is sponsored by Industrial Illusions Vice President, Chumley Huffington. As such, in addition to the price money, the winner of this tournament will have the opportunity to have Mr. Huffington personally design them an Archetype of there choice to the individual's exact specifications'. Think about it. That's not an opportunity to just pass up."

Skyler looked over the flier again, at that point paying closer attention to the fine print. The idea of trying to create his own cards didn't really appeal to him as much as Taikerou. As a child, Skyler received his Crusader Deck from his father as a gift along with their linage. Despite his feelings, however, he did like the idea of Dueling some of the best Duelists from around the world.

Just as the idea began to sink in to his mind, the doors of the classroom flung open. A student with shoulder legth, green hair and a baggy Obelisk Blue jacket ran through the doors and rushed towards Taikerou and Skyler as fast as he could. Over his head he was waving the same Duel Tournament flier like a child that had just found a crisp new twenty dollar bill on the side of the road.

"Tai! Gale! I-" In his hurry, Kira failed to properly position his legs as he ran, causing him to trip over his feet, launching himself into the air for a brief second before colliding, face-first with the ground.

"...Ow..." He managed to force with a painfilled yet begrudging voice.

"Kira's here…" sighed Taikerou.

They both stood and went to help their new friend up, carrying him arm to arm up to a seat next to where they were sitting. By the time that he was conscience enough to speak, the warning bell rang, followed swiftly by the rest of the students filing into the classroom.

Since his Duel with Skyler, Kira had underwent a change in attitude that sharply contrasted the boy he once was. He became extremely devoted to Skyler and started to follow him around like a lost duckly that imprints upon the first moving thing it sees. He was also less cinical about his life overall and even revealed himself to be perticullarly energetic and sunny. Taikerou had earlier explained how he was in fact the same way with Matt, the key difference being that whereas Kira only acted that way towards Matt, now he was more open about it. In addition to a change in personality, Kira had also undergone a physical change as well. Instead of spiking his hair up he let it grow out and stopped putting gel in it, making it look more natural, despite the fact that he dyed it every other week.

Taikerou looked up from his book that he was reading and tilted his head towards Kira.

"Yeah, I already told him about the Tournament, Kira."

Kira sat up and rubbed red face. "Damn it, I wanted to be the first to tell him. But seriously, Gale, this is huge. Think of it, any card you can think of! I could completely redesign my Deck."

Taikerou looked back down at his book, trying to find where he had left off.

"What's wrong with your old Deck? Last year ya got the number 4 spot on the Duel Final. Why would ya wanna change it completely?"

"Honestly, I never liked this Deck. Bugs give me the creeps. I use them is because everyone in my family uses Insects. So naturally, I was dumped with this."

"That explains it." Skyler said leaning back in his chair. "A Deck isn't just a bunch of cards that you throw together because they look good or just because they are the kind of cards you like. A good Duelist makes his Deck with cards that he can trust in to pull through in any situation. There's no way that Deck could stand up in Limit Breaker."

"Right, I was menaning to ask you about that. What's a Limit Breaker Tournament?"

"Ya wanna join a tournament and ya don't even know iwhat it's all about?" Taikerou said with a mild chuckle under his voice.

"I assumed it just meant more stuff for the prize."

"I'll let Gale explain, he's more about it than me..."

"Basically," He began, his narrowed eyes still scanning the flier. "A Limit Breaker takes away the constrants that the Duel Class put on Duel Monsters. When it first came out, Duel Monsters was a pretty straight forward game. Every so often a cheap card would come out, and it would either be banned or limited. After a while, however, more and more cards came out with amazing effects, making the game sumwhat one-sided. Not much fun when the entire Duel hinges on who goes first to FTK you."

"No kiddin'," sneered Taikerou. "Everyone was netdeckin'. Auto-pilotin' newbs."

"The ban list got bigger and bigger until entire archetypes got banned. But then the Duel Class came along and removed a lot of the restrictions, resulting in Deck Patents. If you had the money, you could buy the rights to a Deck, and once you did, nothing could be more than sixty persent similar. Also, they were allowed to use as many staple as they want, unlike the rest of us who are limited to two per Deck. So normal Duelist like us have to just deal, using the complicated, situational cards. But for this tournament, looks like the Limit is going to be removed, meaning you can use almost any card and strategy you want."

Kira looked up at Skyler with a type of admiration before looking back down at his cards. Taikerou chimed in, stretching his arms over his head.

"I'm gettin' excited just thinkin' about it. We could really use ya here, Gale, seein' as only one of us needs ta win ta get the prize. Anyone one of us could get special cards for the others. Course, the one who actually wins gets most of them."

Skyler crossed his arms over the table and laid his head down over them.

"I'm just not interested, sorry."

"Come on, Gale. If not for you, then for me." Kira said, the ending of the last letter with his upper lip slightly raised. "I need those custom cards to…umm…"

He looked back at Taikerou who promptly finished his sentence for him, repeating what Skyler had said only seconds ago.

"'Ta become a true Duelist – blah blah - constructs his Deck –blah blah - pull through.' Or somethin' like that. I usually jus tune him out when he says stuff like that."

"Right, what he said!"

The image of all of those peircing eyes looking down at him from the sidelines in Skyler's mind was now being counter balanced by the persistant pleas of his friends. After all, no one had recognized him in the few months he had been at the acadamy, so why would a tournament be any different. Then again, no one from his old life normally trapced around Central to see him. The inner mechanisms of Skyler's minds moved against themselves as they tried to weigh the pros and cons of perticipating. After a minute more of nagging on the part of his fellow students, Skyler finally came to a decision, lifting his head from the table and leaning back in his chair.

"Fine."

"Really?" Kira said, standing in excitement.

"Really"

"You'll enter?"

"I'll enter."

"Yes," He bellowed out, cocking his arms inward in victory. "Finally I'll get some cards that I can actually use."

Taikerou allowed a small smirk from the corner of his mouth before he brushed the hair out of his face.

"That's if I let ya have a card 'r two, after I win."

Kira gave Taikerou I narrow glare then jumped to stand on top of the desk. He knelt down and sat on the balls of his feet so that he could be face-to-to with Taikerou, who looked up from his book with an indifferent expression. They both seemed to be enjoying this exchange of friendly banter.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" He retrieved his Deck from where he was sitting and held it up to Taikerou's face. "How about it?"

Taikerou looked at Kira, who was at that point only a few inches away from his face.

"Dattebayo."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Yeah it's a challenge. What of it? Are you gonna step up or are ya just gonna bitch cause your still on the rag?"

"Ha, that's cute, what? Did your husband think that one up for you? Challenge Accepted."

Skyler couldn't felt but laugh at his friends as he leaned back in his chair. "Just another normal day at Dual Academy, huh?"

"Bup" appeared on Skyler's shoulder, nodding its head in agreement to Skyler rhetorical question. "Twee!"

"Hey, what's a rag?"

The little bat simply shrugged.


	8. Chapter 7: Something Old, Something New

By the end of the class period, word had some how gotten out about Taikerou and Kira's Duel. After two hours of anticipation, the bell that signaled the end of class sounded, causing every student in class to rush for the door and down to the practice arena. In there hurry, however, a few of them clogged the doorway and created a pile up, blocking the only exit.

Slightly annoyed by the student's childish antics, Taikerou walked up to the mass, lifted his foot, and delivered one swift kick to the back of the closest student, catapulting the rest of the students forward out of the doorway. Slightly daze, the students didn't even notice Taikerou stepping over them, followed swiftly by an over enthused Kira. The two competitors left the room and headed downstairs, exchanging smack talk all the way down. Skyler, however, sat stationary at his desk, taking the last bit of notes that the rest of the class had already finished. He let out a deep sigh before he closed his notebook and stood.

The Duel Spirit "Bup" appeared out of thin air and landed lightly on Skyler's shoulder just as he had before.

"Twee?"

"Looks like I don't really have a choice. I need to be there for support, you know how Kira can get when things don't go his way. I kind of feel sorry for the guy." Skyler smiled lightly as he stuffed his notebook into his backpack. "If you ask me, this is going to be pretty one-sided."

He turned and walked out of the room, making his way to the arena. By the time he got there, Taikerou and Kira were already set up on their respective sides of the field. Although it was mandatory for all students to use the official Dual Academy Duel Disk, Tai, being the rebel that he claimed to be, always used a special Duel Disk that he made from an old family heirloom.

While the Duel Disk was on standby, it looked like a staff with a bulky yet stylish ordainments on both ends. As the last of the students filed into the observation stands, Taikerou smirked and placed the middle of the staff into a vice on his arm, causing various junctions all over the staff to separate.

The staff itself transformed, first splitting in half then folding in on itself, coming to a stop as the two ends connected and locked themselves into place. The device continued to change as the joined ends slid down the collapsible shaft to at last rest on Taikerou's forearm. Finally, a field blade lunched from the device, thus forming a perfect Duel Disk.

Kira ran a hand through his hair then activated his standard Academy Dual Disk.

"Someone's overcompensating," sang Kira in an amused melody.

Taikerou waved his hand in a shooing manner at his opponent.

"Stop objectifying me and staring at my staff, Kira. My eyes are up here." said Taikerou as he flipped a coin and let it fall to the ground. "Heads; I go first."

He proceeded to draw a card from his Deck.

"What? You never called it in the air so how does getting heads mean you go first?"

"Glad ya asked, Comic Relief. Cause I'm the one with the kick ass Duel Disk, the sexy hair, and most importantly I wear the daddy-pants in this friendship. So deal with it. I play the Field Spell 'Magical Citadel of Endymion'. Each time we play a Spell Card, I get 1 Spell Counter on this card."

A small panel opened up on Taikerou's Duel Disk, to which he slid the Spell Card inside. As soon the panel closed, the entire field started to change, large, intricately designed spires and magical circles appearing around them.

"Then I'll Set a monster facedown; end turn."

Kira drew then looked over the cards in his hand. "I activate 'One for One'; by sending a monster from my hand to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon a Level 1 monster from my Deck, so I choose my 'Ultimate Insect LV1'."

A single card popped out from his Deck as soon as he sent a card from his hand to the Graveyard. Kira set it on a vacant panel of his Duel Disk and Summoned a maggot-looking monster. _[ATK: 0 DEF:0]_

"Then I'll play my 'Anti-Aircraft Flower' in attack mode along with the spell 'Worm Bait', letting me Summon two 'Worm Tokens'."

After Kira Summoned a large flower with a turret in place of the Pistol to the field, the hologram of his Spell Card appears behind it. The card started to shine as it made two small worms appeared next to "Ultimate Insect LV1". _[ATK: 0 DEF: 1600]_

"Finally, the effect of my 'Anti-Aircraft Flower' activates, letting me tribute both my Insect monsters to inflict 1600 points of damage to your Life Points. Now go!"

The two tokens began to glow before they converted into energy, which then funneled into the barrel of the turret on the Plant monster. Without any further warning, two shots rang out through the arena, bypassing Taikerou's facedown monster and dropping his Life Points to 2400.

"I Set a card facedown and that will do it for now, Daddy-pants."

As soon as Kira played his "Worm Bait" and his "One for One", two symbols appeared on one of the spires behind Taikerou.

Chuckling under his breath, he drew his next card.

"My move, and that's Mr. Daddy-pants ta ya; I'll get thing rollin' with my 'Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands."

Taikerou Summoned the greenish monster covered in arms then reached to his Deck, adding a new card to his hand. _[ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000]_

"When he's Summoned, I getta any Ritual Card from my Deck. Then I'll activate 'Commencement Dance'! I'm gonna Tribute my facedown 'Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals' and my 'Manju' ta Summon 'Dancing Soldier'."

Suddenly the two monsters were absorbed into a vortex in the middle of the field, vanishing into the light and merging together to form a slender woman with blades on her arms. _[ATK: 1950 DEF: 1850]_

"Now I'll Equip her with 'Ritual Weapon', making her ATK 3400. Attack his 'Anti-Aircraft Flower'."

The female monster began to twisted and turned as she danced in for an attack.

"Not the most threatening attack if you ask me. I activate 'Waboku'." Kira said as he revealed his facedown card. "Reducing all the damage I would receive to zero and protecting my monster from being destroyed."

Just then, a group of women in turquoise robes appeared in front of "Anti-Aircraft Flower" and blocked the attack of "Dancing Soldier".

Even though his attack had failed, Taikerou didn't seem to let it affect him, keeping the same indifferent look on his face he always had. "

I guess I'll just end my turn then."

When Taikerou played his two Spell Cards, two more symbols appeared on "Magical Citadel of Endymion".

Kira narrowed his eyes. {What's he planning on doing with those weird counters?}

Skyler leaned forward in his seat and placed his arms behind his head.

"What's going on? Kira is acting like he's never seen Tai Duel before."

One of the students who were sitting next to Skyler turned to him.

"Actually, Taikerou almost never Duels in the open, let alone in the practice arena. Last year he hung out with the top Duelists in the school and Dueled all the time, but midway through the year, he just stopped Dueling people all together. All we really know is that uses Ritual Monsters. I heard he has an agreement with the staff that lets him take all his Duel Exams in private."

Skyler looked from the student back to the Duel in progress, thinking intently about what he had just heard, questions piling up in his mind.

"I wonder why he would let me see his Deck if he was so secretive or even play Kira to begin with."

The head nameless student, along with a few teenage girls, jerked their heads towards Skyler. "Showed you his what?"

"His Deck."

The student sighed in relief, the teenage girls, on the other hand, seemed somewhat disappointed.

"We Duel almost every night so we've both know each others Decks pretty well."

"Really, you've Dueled him before? What does it look like? I mean, he's supposed to be the best in the school, but what do you think?"

"What do I think? Let me put it this way…we've been Dueling almost every night for a month and so far, haven't beaten him once."

"My turn," said Kira as he Drew his next card. "I activate the effect of 'Ultimate Insect LV1', sacrificing it to Summon 'Ultimate Insect LV3'."

The larvae-like insect started to jerk and convulse its body until finally it bursts open to reveal an even larger insect. _[ATK: 1400 DEF: 900]_

"Then I play the Quick Play Spell 'Negate Typhoon'. Now every time I Tribute a monster for another one this turn, I get to destroy a face-up Spell Card on the field, so I choose your Equip Card."

The Spell Card started to shine, causing Taikerou's card shatter and yet another symbol to appear on "Magical Citadel of Endymion".

"I don't know what you're planning to do with that Field Card but it won't matter for long, cause I activate 'Level Up!'."

Again, a larger insect tore its way out of the body of Kira's monster. As soon as it did, "Negate Typhoon" started to glow once more.

"'Level Up' lets me Tribute my Level 3 Insect to Summon my 'Ultimate Insect LV5', which means you're about to loose your Field Spell."

Taikerou couldn't help but smirk as the spires around the field blew up and cast virtual dust up into the air. "So much for your plan."

"Not really." The smoke from the explosion cleared to reveal that the spires and magical circles were still standing.

Kira looked at Taikerou, his hands clenched tight into fists.

"Okay, you want to explain why that piece of crap is still on the field?"

"One of the effects of my 'Citadel': when it's gonna be destroyed, I can remove a Spell Counter from it instead. Oh and it also gets a Counter for your 'Level Up'."

Another symbol appeared next to the others, replacing the symbol that Kira had just managed to destroy.

"You mad, bro?"

Feeling his spike of irritation, Kira glared at the spires and pointed a finger towards Taikerou's monster.

"Fine, keep your Citadel. No skin of my back cause now that your Equip Spell is gone, the ATK of your 'Dancing Soldier' by down to 1900 plus the extra 500 points thanks to my monsters effect, making its final ATK 1400 to my 'Ultimate Insect' 2300. Now go and destroy his monster."

The insect flew forward and jabbed its stinger into the gut of Taikerou's monster, destroying it, and reducing his Life Points to 1500.

"Nothing else I can do but switch my 'Anti-Aircraft Flower' into Defense Position then I end my turn."

Taikerou slowly shook his head from side to side as he drew a card from his Deck. "Kira, Kira, Kira, still make the same ol' mistake of assumin' the least from your opponent."

"Don't get all condescending on me. You're just trying to make me lose my cool, well it won't work! You think you're so cool?"

Taikerou let out a slow sigh and brushed his hair to the side.

"Yes, yes I do, but that's beside the point. I'm not tryin' ta be condescendin', I'm tryin' ta help ya. Always Duelin' yourself into the corner, which isn't necessarily wrong, but if you're gonna do it, you need to be usin' cards that you can actually count on. I'll show ya what I mean. I activate the Ritual Spell 'Advanced Ritual Art'. With this card, I send Normal Monsters from my Deck ta the Graveyard to Ritual Summon a monster with a Level equal ta the Level of the monsters sent. So I'll send a Level 7 Normal monster from my Deck."

A card popped out of his Deck, which Taikerou took and slipped into his Graveyard. A symbol appears in the middle of the field followed by the astral image of the monster that he just sent to the Graveyard.

Everyone's heart skipped a beat as the monster started to come into focus: A tall, blond man in a purple gown with a hood and a long staff. Kira tightly clenched fists loosened along with the rest of the tension in his body, because he was too amazed to be tense. Taikerou couldn't help but discard his indifferent expression for a smirk at everyone's reaction.

"Gotta say, I'd forgotten how much fun it was to Duel out in the open."

Kira pointed to the monster in the middle of the field. "Is that…?"

"Yep, that's my 'Dark Magician'. He's gotten me out of a lot of tight situations. Now…"

Suddenly, Taikerou's "Dark Magician' erupted into flames, shooting skywards in a pillar of fire.

"Come on out, 'Legendary Flame Lord'!"

His monster's entire form started to change shape until finally, from out of the searing pillar of flames, came a man wearing orange armor and a crown, carrying a dagger in one hand and a staff in the other. _[ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000] _Another magical symbol appeared on the Taikerou's Field Spell. After the dramatic entrance of his monster, Taikerou raised his hand and started to count the number of symbols on the field.

"What are you doing? This is pointless; my monsters effect will reduce your monster's ATK to 1900, making it an easy target for my Insect, which in case you forgot still has an ATK of 2300. And even if you do get past him, I still have my 'Flower' to defend."

Still muttering to himself, Taikerou ignored Kira's question and continued to count the symbols. A large vain appeared on Kira's forehead as he began to flail his arms up and down.

"Stop ignoring me, I'm talking dammit!"

Taikerou snapped out of his concentration and looked over at Kira.

"Wha? Oh, right, sorry. I was jus' countin' the number of Spell Counters on 'Magical Citadel of Endymion'. Case you didn't realize, with my last Ritual Spell, there're 6. So I activate the effect of my 'Flame Lord's' effect. By removing three Spell Counters from it, it destroys all other monsters on the field. And thanks to the effect of my 'Citadel', I can remove Spell Counters from it instead of my monster."

The monster held up his staff and dagger, crossing them over its head, causing flames to accumulate all around the Spellcaster's body. In one fluid motion, the monster swept its arms outwards and released a wave of flames in every direction, destroying Kira's "Ultimate Insect LV5" and "Anti-Aircraft Flower".

"But I'm not through, cause I play 'Fulfillment of The Contract'. By paying 800 Life Points, I can Summon 'Dancing Soldier' back to the field."

One of the empty Monster Card Zones started to glow as the female swordswoman jumped out, landing perfectly in Attack Position.

"First I'll attack you Life Points directly with 'Flame Lord'." The monster held out its staff, releasing yet another torrent of flames straight at Kira and reducing his Life Points to 1600.

"Now go my 'Dancing Soldier'! Blade Plie!" The monster danced and twirled towards her target, attacking Kira directly and inflicting 1950 point of damage. The pillars as well as Taikerou's monsters vanished as soon as Kira's Life Points hit 0.

Everyone in the room remained silent, except for Skyler, who was clapping and cheering.

"Whoa! Yeah, good Duel."

He rushed down and jumped over the wall separating the stands from the field. Kira and Taikerou had already met in the middle, shaking hands. Kira smiled as Taikerou pushed his jet-black bangs out of his face. Skyler, however, wasn't as subtle, making them both join in a group hug, to which only he really enjoyed.

A few hours later, the three Duelists sat around a circular ottoman in the middle of Kira's Obelisk Blue dorm room, laughing and regaling each other with stories. Even though the dorm itself was disconnected with the larger, main dorm, it didn't lack any of the extravagance that was synonymous with Obelisk Blue. Unlike the Ra Yellow, the room had its own kitchen, bathroom, a separated room, and even living room. Taikerou sat back in the couch next to Kira while Skyler sat backwards in a chair, their card spread out over the surface of the ottoman.

Leaning forward over the back of the chair, Skyler lightly punched Taikerou in the shoulder. "You were the one who told me to request to join Ra, so don't blame me."

"Hey, if I'd of known I'd getta hot tub in my room I woulda signed those transfer forms last semester."

Skyler pointed over to the Jacuzzi in the corner of the room. "Skinny-dipping, anyone?"

Kira and Taikerou answered his question together in harmony.

"No, now stop asking!"

Trying to ignore Skyler's pouty face, which he usually used to get his way, Kira turned to Taikerou.

"Hey, let me see that card again."

Taikerou let out a small sigh before he pulled a single card out of the pile on the ottoman, revealing his "Dark Magician".

"My ace card. My pop's gave it ta me before he split. What bout you? Got any cool cards we haven't seen yet? "

Skyler shrugged away from question, knowing full well what Taikerou wanted to see. With sudden burst of enthusiasm, Kira jumped over the back of the couch and ran to his room.

"Wait till you guys see this! You're going to flip!"

A few seconds later, he returned with a small, metal case with what a thumb print reader on the lock. Taikerou and Skyler exchanged a looks at each other, both unsure as to what to expect. Placing his thumb on the scanner, Kira opened the box, reached in, and retrieving a Duel Monster card.

"If my family knew that I kept this card, they would be soooo pissed, but I don't care. It's just too awesome!"

He turned the card around to reveal a monster card with the illustration of a red and white Machine-Type monster on it, standing in attention. The card designs, however, was different from any other card Skyler or Taikerou had seen before. It wasn't vanilla, brown, purple, or even blue; instead the card frame was snow white.

Letting his jaw drop at the sight of the card, Skyler pointed down at the card.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Taikerou looked from the card to Kira to Skyler. "That's weird, it's white. What, Industrial Illusions didn't want the colored cards ta have all the power?"

Without taking his eyes of the card, Taikerou reached over and slapped the back of Skyler's head then forced the bangs out of his face.

"Okay, I get it, it's important. So what is it?"

Kira couldn't seem to pry his eyes away from the card in his hands, looking at it with a sense of glee.

"It's a Synchronization monster."

The statement only caused Taikerou to scratch his head in bewilderment. "A Synch-wah?"

"A Synchronization monster," said Skyler. "Or Synchro for short. It's a new kind of monster that Maximilian Pegasus released a few years ago. They work by using another monster called a Tuner. You need to Tribute a Tuner along with non-Tuner Monsters with a total Level equal to Synchro monster in your Extra Deck. Because some of them are kind of broken, only a few have been released to the public."

Kira smiled contentedly to himself then placed the card back into the metal box.

"That's right. I won a private meeting with Pegasus. He told me something about my destiny and how I had an important role to play. Quite frankly…I love it so much! It reminds me of this awesome show that I used to watch growing up, 'Mega Battle Station'!"

He pointed over to the flat screen on the wall hooked up to an X-Box, a play Station, and a Wii next to a stack of video games.

"Growing up, those games were my life!"

Taikerou leaned back in his seat and brushed the hair from his face. "Wow, that's not sad or depressing at all… Enough reminiscing, we need to work on that Deck of yours for the tournament."

"What? My Deck?"

Skyler smiled and stood from his chair, walking over to the ottoman and collecting the cards.

"That's right, we're going to help you make a new Deck; one made out of cards that you can actually rely on." He gave Kira a thumbs up. "You can count on us!"

Kira couldn't help but blush a little as he kneeled down up to the ottoman, along with Taikerou. "You guys are awesome. Let's get to work!"


	9. Chapter 8: Unraveling Destiny

As the moon descended into the distant horizon, the gentle colors of the sun's rays peaked from the opposite horizon, casting the morning sky into an eruption of purples and oranges. The seas below were in a continuous state of flux, stirred up by an armada of small ships, coming from every direction in a near perfect circle. From all across the world, ships were making their ways to Central Duel Academy Island to participate in the Academy Duel Tournament. On each ship, Duelists from every walk of life were preparing for the competition to come.

One yacht, however, stood out from the rest of the fleet, painted black and purple with a strange emblem on the side that looked like the skull of a teddy bear. On the front deck of the boat, a woman in a black tank top and a purple, puffed-out skirt leaned up against the front most rail of the ship, one hand on the railing, the other on a tall, rectangular package. The grin on her face grew larger and larger as she neared the island. She sniffed the crisp morning air and let out a small harmonic hum before she started to sing to herself in a sweet, soothing voice.

"Bound by word, we make a decree  
To guide our fates, to set us free  
Every path we take is your own,  
Every choice we make, set in stone.  
Yet when a cry goes out from land or sea,  
You can never resist the call…  
The call of Destiny."

Back at the academy, three students ran frantically from the Obelisk Blue dorms to class, trying desperately to make it there before the morning bell sounded. Skyler was at the front of the running formation, running faster than Taikerou and Kira with little effort.

"Would you guys hurry up? We're going to be late!"

Kira glared at him as he ran for dear life, panting heavily as he tried to force out his words.

"You're the one… who wanted us to stay up late! We could have finished my new Deck…any time, but nooooo…You wanted to have it finished for the first day…of the tournament…making us all stay up late and end up falling asleep…on MY couch. Do you have any idea…what it's like to wake up with Taikerou…sleeping on top of you?"

Keeping his eyes forward, Skyler tilted his head to the side.

"Well, there was that one time last week."

"What?"

"Yeah, we were all just hanging out then these girls showed up with what looked like juice, then we-"

Skyler looked back to see that Tai had changed his position in the running formation so that he was at that point running of to the side, leaving Kira to run directly behind Skyler. Taikerou held up his hand and started to toss and rock up and down in his hand as he ran.

"Hey, Tai, what's the rock f-"

Without warning, Taikerou chucked the rock at Skyler, hitting him square between the eyes. Skyler tripped over himself and landed on his face, followed swiftly by Kira tripping over.

"Gah?"

They crashed into each other as Taikerou quickened his pace towards the Academy.

"Wake up to that, bitch."

Luckily, the three were all able to get to class on time. However, even though they ran all the way there, just five minutes into the class they were half-asleep. After an hour, the bell rang, prompting the entire class to rush for the door as fast as they could, wedging themselves into the doorway.

Saber let out a deep sigh then proceeded to clap his hands together with his eyes closed, to which everyone in the doorway stopped in their tracks.

"Kids these days, no patience at all. Everyone, stop your childishness and exit from my class room..." He looked up and opened his eyes to deliver a piercing glare at the students. "Immediately…"

Frantically trying to form a single file line, the students were finally able to exit the room. Saber looked over to see Skyler, Taikerou, and Kira, all of whom had their heads on their desk and were fast asleep.

"Then again, maybe patience isn't for everyone."

Saber made his way over to the three students and patted Kira on the shoulder.

"Hey, you guys, I know it wasn't the most exciting lecture, but cut me some slack, would you?"

With a sudden burst of energy, Kira's head shot up and turned to the clock on the far side of the classroom.

"Oh crap, everyone's already gone! Gale, Tai, wake up! If we don't hurry all the spots will be taken up!"

Taikerou and Skyler followed Kira's example shot out of their seats quickly, rushing to pack their bags as fast as they could. The sight of his students becoming so alarmed over missing the tournament caused Saber to let out a small chuckle.

"Calm down, calm down, I'm sure that there will be plenty of entrance spots. Just take your-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Kira and Taikerou rushed past Saber and left the room, leaving Skyler behind in their haste.

"Hold up guys! I'm right behind y-!"

Before the last word escaped Skyler's lips, a searing pain suddenly jolted through his body, forcing him to take a knee, his hand clutching his chest.

"Ah! Dammit, not now. You've got to be kidding me!"

Saber quickly responded, rushing to Skyler's side and tried to help him up.

"Skyler, what's wrong? Are you okay!"

The pain coursing through Skyler's body continued to spread though his entire body, growing more and more intense with ever passing second. Each breath was like swallowing razors. He couldn't even think clearly enough to make sense of where he was. After ten seconds mind-numbing agony, a blinding white light engulfed Skyler's vision, causing him to bite down on his bottom lip until he drew blood. Suddenly the pain disappeared as quickly as it appeared along with his groans of pain, leaving the room once again silent.

Saber cautiously reached out a hand to his student.

"Sky-"

Without warning, Skyler shifted his weight to his left hand, lifted his body of the ground, and thrust his foot square into the face of his teacher. Under the shear force of the kick, Saber went flying in the backwards through a desk. Before he had the chance to recover, Skyler was right on top of him. He reached down a picked him up by collar and forced him to his knees only to ram his head into Sabers. Dazed and confused by the sudden impact, Saber barely felt Skyler knee him in the stomach or his follow up round house kick to the side of the head, again sending him flying across the room. With a sinister smile, Skyler leaps to a desk top then jumped again towards the bloody Saber, his fist cletched and ready.

Saber's eyes narrow as his pupils dilated and his irises changed into a shade of orange. Quickly sitting up, he reached up and caught the fist before it could connect, moved to the side, and pulled Skyler forward only to meet a hard right hook. Jumping to his feet, Saber followed up on his counter attack by repeatedly punching Skyler in the chest and stomach. Skyler tried to regain the lead by jumping to a table top to deliver another face kick, but as soon as as he launched the kick, Saber deflected and caught the leg, holding it tight. He smirked before he lifted Skyler up by the leg only to bring toss him across the room and throw a row of desks.

Just as Saber was about to say something in retort, Skyler was already up and more than ready for round two. With amazing speed, he jumped from desk to desk towards Saber, finally jumping upwards, his leg outstretched for a drop kick. Saber was able to dodge just as the kick collided with the desk behind him, reducing it to splinters.

Without a second's delay, Skyler landed and began released vicious assault on his teacher with a barrage of fists. He was able to block most of the mêlée, but was caught off guard by a stray a fist, which smashed into his face. The assault didn't end there, however, for as soon as Skyler broke Saber's fighting stance, he released a second barrage of fists straight into Saber's gut.

Saber fell backwards onto a wall, blood leaking out of the corners of his mouth as he gasped for air. This, however, did not deter the rampaging Skyler as he propelled his fist forward, only to have Saber tilt his head to the side, causing his fist to bust through the dry wall directly behind Saber's head. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Saber sidestepped under Skyler's exposed side, elbowing him hard enough in the side to break a few ribs. A spurt of blood shot out of his mouth as Saber twisted on the spot and in one fluid motion, chopped the back of his neck. Skyler's vision went black before he passed out and fell forward.

The now badly injured professor took a few steps backwards before falling to his hands and knees, panting heavily.

"What the hell…What set that off?"

He sat back and tried to make sense of everything that had just happened.

Suddenly, the supposedly unconscious Skyler opened his eyes and retracted his fist from the drywall. The 16-year-old turned to face his teacher, his eyes burning bright gold along with his body. The back of his shirt ripped open, revealing a black tattoo of six, feathered wings, two of which were glowing.

Looking on in agony, Saber propped himself up, his hand clutching his side.

"Sky…Skyler! If you are in there, listen! You need to focus! It will kill you if you keep this up much longer!"

The radiating body flinched backwards as he lifted his hands into his line of vision, looking down at them with a sense of revulsion and fear.

Skyler let out a bone-chilling cry, screaming, "No! I won't let you win!"

A light shot up from Skyler, shining brilliantly for a few seconds before it completely left him. He then fell to his knees, his body covered in cuts and bruises, clothes in tatters, and tears streaming down his face. He fainted to the side, his energy completely zapped. It was then that Saber limped as fast as he could over to his side and tryed to hold him up.

"Skyler! Skyler, wake-up! You're okay; it's going to be okay!"

The words were barely a murmur to Skyler as darkness consumed his vision. Everything went silent.

Darkness. Everything was silent. No noise. No color. No form. So cold. Suddenly, a flash of white. Everything was warm. Everything made sense.

_Can't You Hear It?_

A few hours later, Skyler awoke to find himself in the nurse's office. He looked around, trying to remember how he got there and why he was there in the first place. The events of the day seemed like a bad dream, with vague and distorted memories randomly entering and leaving his head. As he tried to sit up, he found that a searing pain in his abdomen prevented him from moving too much. He slowly removed the covers over his body to reveal a set of bandages wrapped around his abdomen. The pain, coupled with the sight of his injures helped Skyler to recall most of what had happened in Saber's room. Trying to push past the pain, he lifted up his arm to look at his bandaged hand.

"You know, I remember the days when Duel Monsters was just about playing a card game."

Saber said from the corner of the room, where he had been waiting for Skyler to wake up for the past hour. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his leg before letting out a deep sigh.

"Those were the days."

Turning his attention to his professor, who was also wrapped in bandages, Skyler's face contorted in fear of how Saber would react to the entire situation.

"Saber, I…"

He held up his hand to interrupting Skyler's plea.

"Save it. I saw the look in your eyes when you attacked me. It wasn't you. My only question is...what have you been running from?"

It was always difficult for Skyler to formulate the correct words to describe his past. Every syllable was like tiny shards of glass, slowly scrapping up his throat as he forced them out. He took in a deep breath and tried to push passed the pain.

"Saber…I didn't just leave my family because of the pressures of being in a Duel Family. I ran away because of they want me to become something that I hate."

Saber narrowed his eyes and lifted the side of his teeth up to bite on his top lip.

"What exactly do they want you to become then?"

"A monster." he said as he leaned back into his bed and shifted his line of sight to the ceiling. "I guess I should start from the beginning, that way, you might understand where I'm coming from. It all started 5000 years ago in Egypt, where sorcerers used the powers of magical items to pull the spirits of evil Duel Monsters out of possessed people and then sealed them away in stone tablets. The people believed this new found power to be a gift from the Gods, helping them to defend Egypt from every enemy that threatened her. They never imagined that the power would come at such a heavy price."

"These items brought about a war between the Light and the Darkness. The war claimed hundreds of innocent lives, but in the end, the Light prevailed over the Darkness, destroying it forever. With the destruction of the Dark One, Egypt ushered in a thousand years of prosperity under the dynasty of Pharaoh Seto. Even with the Dark One destroyed, however, the Darkness was still able to find a way to escape from its imprisonment. Disciples of the Dark One slowly seeped into the minds of the people of Egypt, corrupting their judgment and tainting their minds. The Pharaoh became possessed by the evil spirits and enslaved thousands to do his bidding."

At that point of the story, Saber found himself leaning forward in his chair, still biting his upper lip.

"This is where story can be hard to follow, so please, keep an open mind. The evil spirits corrupted the minds of the Pharaoh and his people to such an extent that they enslaved an entire race to do their bidding. These people were enslaved for hundreds of years, during which time the Pharaoh commanded them to work to fulfill his every whim. It wasn't until 400 years later that one brave man rose up against the Pharaoh and freed his people using a great, ancient power weapon given to him by God. The man led his people out of Egypt in search for a place where he and his people could live in peace. But they did not leave empty handed; with them they carried the knowledge that the Egyptians used to seal away Duel Spirits as well as the great power that freed them from the Darkness. They used this power during their conquest and defeated entire empires for hundreds of years, until finally it came to rest in the holy city of Jerusalem."

Saber tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow before he said, "Jerusalem? So the 'power' you're talking about was the Ark of the Covenant? And the people who were enslaved by the Egyptian were-"

Anticipating Saber's statement, Skyler finished his sentence while nodding his head.

"The Jewish people, or the Israelites, if you prefer."

The thought of the idea prompted Saber to raise his hand to his face and rub the bridges of his nose.

"We're going to get soooo many people pissed off…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing, please continue."

"Right, so the power was sealed away, only to be used in extreme circumstances. As time passed, people grew weary and began to slip back into the Darkness. It took another 1000 years, but eventually the evil seeped into their minds, causing people to seek and use the Ark for their own purposes, causing what came to be known as the Crusades. The people released the nine Dark Disciples onto the world, each responsible for one of the nine holy Crusaders, destroying everything in their path. On the surface, the series of Holy Wars seemed like the power struggle between three religions, but in reality, they were a series of attempts by the Disciples to retrieve the Ark and its powers."

Saber held up a hand in an attempt to interrupt Skyler's story.

"Wait a second, let me get this straight. You mean to tell me that the Holy Wars were all the work of these 'Dark Disciples? I may not know much about history, but if I remember correctly, the First Crusade started when the Byzantine Emperor fought against the Seljuk Turks. Where exactly do these spirits come into the story?"

"The Disciples never directly caused the war. They had long sense made their way into the minds of men to the point that even the smallest spark would set a raging fire. Everyone from the peasants to kings felt within them a growing frustration that called them to lash out at their neighbors. What started as a means to protect the Holy Land turned into a war that consumed the lives of millions. In short, over hundreds of years they manipulated people in the smallest ways to fulfill a much more sinister design.

Anyway, the evil spirits came through to our world, but they weren't alone. With them came a group of warriors who fought against the evil spirits. By combining their strength, these warriors were able to overwhelm the Dark Disciples one by one. However, rather than accept defeat, the spirits scattered their powers to the winds and sealed themselves away into the bodies of humans. Patiently waiting for the time when they have enough power to claim the Ark."

"So... what about these warriors who defeated the Dark Spirits? Where are they now?"

The question confused Skyler to a certain degree, causing him to turn his head back to face his proffesor.

"Well...I'm not really sure about them to be honest. I was taught that they were the best soldiers in the world of Duel Spirits. I would assume that they went back to their own world after the war. Meanwhile, the Dark Spirits remain tied to their human hosts, forcing them to live their lives day in and day out with the knowledge of what they are…"

Saber tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what was being said.

"So... you're saying that you-"

"Yes, I am the vessal of one of the nine Disciple spirits. We're seperate beings all-together, however, it still has the power to control my actions when it feels in danger. I don't know why, but it forced me to fight you because it saw you as a threat."

Saber leaned back in his chair, trying to take all of the information that he had just heard in, still biting his upper lip.

"So, how exactly did you come by all this? I've never even heard of anything like this in Duel History."

He laid back on his bed and turned his head to look out the window.

"It's something that my family has been grooming me for. The legend has been past down from generation to generation, until the day that the spirit shows itself. Only one person in my family has this spirit and that's me."

"Grooming you? What do you mean by that? Didn't you say that the spirit was evil?"

A small, cynical smile appeared from the corner of Skyler's lips as he explained.

"Good Question. Why would a loving family want to do something like that to a child? The short answer: My entire family are idiots. They seem to thinks that this spirit inside me is a gift, not a curse. That I will use it to fulfill my destiny as soon as I learn to accept it. Well…if that's the case, then screw Destiny."

Bit by bit, Saber began to piece together Skyler explanation for everything that had happened since he arrived.

"So that explains it. You rejected your family's plans for you and ran to Duel Academy to get a fresh start."

"Mostly that, yeah. That and I hate the fact that I could never really live a full life with them. Even the people I trusted had plans for me in the end. Not to mention all the stuck up rich people. But, yeah, I came here with a whole new identity hoping that I could start over. And up until today, everything was going so well…"

"But what about the spirit? Don't think that it's possible that you may be wrong ab-"

Skyler interrupted abruptly, raising his voice.

"You don't get it. This thing isn't something that I can reason with. It just takes over and the more I fight it the stronger it gets. It's nothing but evil."

"But what if-"

"Please!"

Skyler's voice range through the nurse's office, followed by a few seconds of silence.

"Professor…I'm sorry for everything that happened, but right now…I need some rest."

Saber stood and walked to the door.

"Whatever you want, Sky. Just remember, you have people in our life that really care about you. And in the end, whether it be monsters or spirits, nothing can take that away."

He left the room, leaving Skyler looking out the window, just as the horn, signifying the end of tournament registrations, sounded.

Out in the hallway, Saber Nitephyer put his cell phone to his ear, waiting for a response to his call. A man on the other end picked up.

"Serenity Industries, how my I direct your call."

"Put me on with Nathaniel Gailson. We have an issue. "


	10. Chapter 9: Monkey's Paw

A few hours had past since the sounding of the horn that signaled the end of registration for the tournament and Kira and Taikerou became to feel a growing anxiety in the pits of their stomachs. They both stood on the edge of a large crowd of registered Duelist in the academy gymnasium. Taikerou was trying to remain stoic about his concerns, leaning again the now empty registration table, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Kira, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth, scratching his head.

"He said he was right behind us. He should have been here by now. He told us, he promised that he would enter and he chickened out!"

Kira continued to pace, slowly increasing his stride.

Taikerou let out a deep sigh, speaking with his eyes still closed.

"Calm down, Kira. Gale wouldn't've wussed out like that. There's gotta be a reason why he didn't show up, so stop pacin', you're gonna give yourself a stroke."

Kira didn't seem to hear Taikerou's words as he continued to pace from one side of the room to the other. Just then, the double doors to the gymnasium swung open. Taikerou and Kira quickly turned to see Skyler walking inside; his arms bandaged up, cut and bruise littering his face, and holding his side. The two duelists ran to his side, Taikerou moving to his left to hook his arm under Skyler's shoulder to hold him up.

"Gale, what the hell happened to you? We thought you were coming to register for the tournament, instead you show up looking like you just went ten rounds! Where were you?"

Kira soundly extremely worried and almost frightened to see Skyler in such a state. Skyler lightly pushed Taikerou's arm away and weakly held himself up.

"I'm fine, nothing happened. I just tripped and fell down the stairs on my way over here. The last thing I remember is waking up in the nurse's office. Did I miss the deadline?"

Taikerou let out a small sigh and brushed his black bangs to the side.

"Gale, we tried to save you a spot, but they wouldn't let us. Sorry, but all of the registration spot are taken."

Even though he didn't even want to join the tournament in the first place, Skyler felt a deep sense of frustration towards himself for everything that had happened. If only he didn't have to live with this curse, he thought to himself, maybe he could have a normal life where he didn't end up hurting the people he cared about. Skyler walked over to a bench and sat down, letting out a small exhale.

"Well, this sucks. I was actually looking forward to this."

Thinking intently about what to do next, Kira suddenly held up a single finger as a smile crossed his face.

"I have an idea! Tai and I could go around and see if anyone would give up their spot for you. What do you think, Tai?"

Taikerou smirked and again brushed his sleek black hair out of his face.

"I'm guessin' no one'll wanna give up their spot right away. It may take a little… persuasion. I'll be right back."

He turned to enter into a crowd of Duelist that was still hanging out in the gymnasium wearing an evil smile. Skyler and Kira exchanged a look of concern for anyone who was unlucky enough to be the first to say 'No.' to Taikerou.

"Um…I'm gonna go make sure he doesn't end up scarring someone for life. You wait here." said Kira before he ran off and disappeared into the crowd.

Skyler sat back in the bench, looking down at his bandaged hands. After everything that had happened he still felt completely powerless. He closed his eyes, trying hard not to think about it. Images of the past again started to run through his mind like a slideshow. One memory in particular stood out from the rest, one of him as a ten-year-old wearing a Duel Disk. On the opposite side of the room a boy, about the same age as Skyler, with dark skin stood wearing a strange looking Dueling apparatus. The two boys were locked in the heat of a Duel, both of them radiating an array of shining colors from their bodies as dark figures on the sidelines watched the Duel progress.

Skyler hesitated with one of his moves, a deep fear of some unknown entity apparent in his eyes. The other boy, however, didn't seem to be afraid at all, playing every card with a sense of confidence, his purple aura growing brighter with every play. The other boy Summoned an enormous monster then released it on Skyler, inflicting damage to the young boy that was clearly physically painful. Suddenly the young Skyler let out a shrill scream followed by a cascade of orange light shouting upwards and out of his body. The enraged boy lunged forward, completely out of control as he attacked the unsuspecting boy he was Dueling.

"Excuse me."

The two words snapped Skyler out of his stupor, the memories of the past fading into the present. He looked up to see an older, grey haired man in a white overcoat. Skyler smiled and let down his guard a little, feeling relieved that it was someone whom at least appeared safe.

"I'm sorry, young man; I didn't mean to perturb you. I couldn't help but over hear your current predicament and thought it only magnanimous to offer my assistance with your situation."

Skyler continued to stare at the old man with a sum what confused smile.

"Uhhhhh… what was that first part?"

The older man let out a chuckle before reiterating.

"Oh, my apologies, I sometimes ramble. What I meant to say was that I over heard that you missed the deadline for registration and I would like to offer you some help if you need it." 

"Ohhhh," Skyler exclaimed. "I get it. Um, sure thanks a lot, but unless you're willing to give up your spot in the tournament, I don't really think there's anything you can do."

"Well, if that is the case, then I might have a solution to your problem. You see I am in need of funding for my research, which is why I have entered this tournament, to gain as much attention to my studies as possible. But as it turns out, I have received a call that one of my projects has just gained support. So I am faced with the decision of continuing here to gain funding for future endeavors or to retire to my lab to finish what I started, but risking future finances."

"So where do I come into this?"

"Well, I feel that this Duel may prove as fate for me. How about we have a friendly Duel and if you win, I'll let you enter the tournament in my place. This way, I will at least have a reason to leave, seeing as if I am unable to defeat you now I wouldn't expect any differently in the actual competition. Call it a flip of the preverbal coin. How does that sound?"

The expression on Skyler's face changed dramatically as his eyes opened wide and his mouth contorted itself into a wide smile.

"Oh, so you want to Duel for it? Sure, that sounds fair." 

"I like your spirit." Said the man with an upbeat chuckle and a clap of his hands. "Splendid, we can Duel right outside if you want. It's a little crowded in here."

The young Duelist agreed and started to take a step forward when he caught sight of Kira and Taikerou coming out of the crowd. Taikerou was dragging a seemingly comatose student, by the collar of his shirt, across the floor.

"S'not my fault. He ran, ib the eyes of the law, that's resisting arrest."

Right behind him was Kira, rubbing his temples with two fingers.

"Since when are you the police?"

"I AM the law."

"Ever heard of 'gentle persuasion', Tai?"

Thinking for a brief moment, Taikerou replied, "…Nope, not really."

Skyler ignored the limp student as he began to speak to his friends.

"Don't worry about it guys. I got it covered. This old guy over here said that he would Duel me for his spot. It's all good."

Taikerou looked from Skyler, to the older man, then back to Skyler with a raised eyebrow.

"Gale, didn't ya learn anything from the last time some old guy tried t'get you alone?"

"This is different! This guy isn't offering candy and he doesn't have puppies! I learned from the last time."

Feeling left out of some imaginary loop that Taikerou and Skyler had created between the two of them, Kira looked between his friends.

"Wait, what?"

Taikerou ignored him and continued with his argument.

"Do you even know this name or who he is?"

Skyler looked a little puzzled as to Taikerou's question, not quite understanding what the guy's name had to do with Dueling him.

The old man cleared his throat to get the attention of the three.

"Your friend is right; I really should have introduced myself in the first place. My name is Phineas Balthazar Darwin the third, Professor of Anthropology at Aster University. And to answer the concerns of your friends, I assure you all that I mean this young man no harm. I'm simply an old, superstitious man with a Duel Monsters Deck."

Kira crossed his arms and leaned forward towards the old man.

"So…you would be willing to give up your spot if you lost to Gale just like that? What if you win?"

"Hmm…I didn't really think about that. I guess I'll just leave that up to…Gale, was it? Actually, how about this: If I win, I get a rare card from your Deck. Does that sound fair to you?"

Skyler nodded vigorously in agreement. "Totally! See guys, completely reasonable. This guy is okay by me." He turned back to Professor Darwin. "Lead the way."

The Professor smiled and led all three of the students out in front of the gymnasium. He took a few extra steps then turned to Skyler, taking out his Duel Disk and strapping it to his arm. Skyler repeats this action, strapping the Duel Disk onto his arm.

"If it is alright with you, I will make the first move."

"Fine by me."

Professor Darwin drew his first card and placed a Monster Card on his Duel Disk.

"I Normal Summon the Beast-Type monster 'Speed Ape' in face-up Attack Position, along with two cards facedown. I now end my turn."

An ape-looking monster wearing high-tech armor appeared on the Professor side of the field. [ATK: 1600 DEF:100]

"Oh boy," Taikerou said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "He's going to announce all his moves. This is going to be a long Duel people. I you, I would skip it. Really, you're not missing out on anything."

"It's my move now, draw!" Skyler skimmed over the cards in his hand. "I Summon 'Crusader Knight Guadric'. Then I'll equip him with 'Lightning Blade'."

Skyler Summoned a male monster with silver and blue armor wielding a large blade, surrounded by an aura of lightning. [ATK: 2300 DEF: 800]

"Now attack his 'Speed Ape'!"

The knight lunged forward and sliced the monkey in half, inflicting 700 points of damage to the Professor. Professor Darwin proceeded to press on of the buttons on the side of his Duel Disk.

"I will first activate the effect of my 'Speed Ape'. When it is destroyed by battle, I can draw 1 card from my Deck." He proceeded to draw an extra card.

"I will then chain the destruction of my monster to the Trap Card 'Animal Trail', allowing me to add a Beast-Type monster from my Deck to my hand. Finally, I will also chain the effect of 'Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest', by which I pay 1000 to Special Summon it from my hand."

He placed the Monster Card on the Duel Disk to Summon a large green ape to the field. [ATK: 2600 DEF: 1800]. Professor Darwin's Life Points dropped to 2300.

Skyler looked at the monster then back at his hand.

"I'll set two more cards facedown, and then I'll end my turn…"

"I start my Draw Phase." He drew a card then flipped up on of his facedown cards.

"I activate my face-down Trap Card, 'Coffin Seller'. From now on, every time one of your Monster Cards is sent to the Graveyard, you loss 300 Life Points. I then activate the Normal Spell Card 'Terraforming' in order to add one Field Spell Card from my Deck to my hand."

The Professor selected a card from his Deck and then placed it in the Field Card slot on his Duel Disk.

"I then play the Field Spell, 'Wild Jungle'." Suddenly the entire area started to shift and transform into a rich, vibrant tropical rain forest.

"This card increases the ATK of all Beast-Type monsters by 400. And finally, I Normal Summon the Monster 'Voltic Kong'."

He proceeded to Summon a large gorilla, surrounded by electricity. [ATK: 1800 DEF: 1000] The ATK of the two monster increased to 2200 and 3000.

"Now I will enter into my Battle Phase. 'Green Baboon', attack his 'Crusader Knight Guadric' with Wrath of The Jungle."

The green baboon swung from tree to tree finally jump down and land right in front Skyler's monster. The monster lifted up an outsized club above its head only to smash it down on 'Guadric', destroying him. Skyler's Life Points dropped from 4000 to 3300, then from 3300 to 3000 through the effect of "Coffin Seller".

"Now I attack your Life Points directly with 'Voltic Kong'." The giant gorilla sent a shock wave at Skyler. Thinking quickly, he activated one of his face-down cards.

"I play the Trap Card 'Action Defense', negating your monsters attack and letting me get a Normal Monster from my Graveyard."

"Voltic Kong" stopped its attack just as Skyler added his "Crusader Knight Guadric" back to his hand.

"I place a card face-down then end my turn. Your turn."

"During your End Phase, I activate my face-down card, 'Reinforce Truth'. I get to Special Summon my 'Crusader Squire Tyia' to the field."

A single card popped out of his Deck to which Skyler proceeded to Summon to the field. A hologram of a little girl in silver armor appeared on the field.

"With her effect, I can Summon 2 more 'Crusader Squire Tyia' from my Deck." Skyler Summoned two more "Crusader Squire Tyia" to his side of the field.

"Now I draw." He scanned over the all the cards in his hand and found just the card he needed.

"'Book of Moon', switching your "Green Baboon" into face-down Defense Position. Then I Tribute one of my monsters to Summon 'Crusader Knight Temara'. Attack!"

As soon as one of the Squires disappeared, a larger female knight in gold armor appeared to the field. The warrior rushed forward and destroyed the Professor's facedown "Green Baboon". As soon as he did, however, Professor Darwin banished his "Speed Ape" and the destroyed "Green Baboon" from his Graveyard.

"I will now Chain the destruction of my monster to activate the effect of my 'Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest', which allows me to Special Summon it after a Beast-Type monster is destroyed and by banishing 2 Beast-Type monsters from my Graveyard."

He placed a monster card on his Duel Disk and Summoned a large, yellow ape with a bow and arrow and an ATK of 2600.

"Also, you should know that every time you destroy one of my monsters, the side effect of my 'Wild Jungle' activates, placing a Forest Counter on itself and increasing the ATK of my monsters by an additional 200."

The ATK of his monsters go from 2200 and 2600 to 2400 and 3200. And due to the effect of "Coffin Seller", Skyler's Life Points drop to 2700 since he sent "Crusader Squire Tyia" to the Graveyard.

Skyler looked at his opponent with a new sense of admiration. "Dang! That's a great move! I end my turn."

"Thank you, my boy. I'm glad that you are enjoying yourself."

Taikerou leaned back against a tree. "Well this is interesting. I didn't expect for Gale to be at such a disadvantage."

Kira looked over at Taikerou and tilted his head to the side. "Tai, you know how Gale works. He always turns the match around in the end."

He shook his head. "No, it's not just that. This guy is reading every one of Gale's moves and coming up with the perfect counter for them. It's almost like he knows what cards are in Gale's Deck."

"But that's crazy, if he knew what cards were in his Deck then…" Kira thought for a moment, piecing together the events that had led up to this point.

"Come to think of it, isn't it a little weird how this 'professor' just happened to show up when Sky needed help?"

Taikerou nodded in agreement at Kira's observation. "That's right. I think he was waiting for Gale to show up for the tournament. He wanted to Duel him in the first place, but when he missed the deadline, the good Professor had to change his strategy."

"If he planned all this, what's the point of Dueling Gale? It not like he would gain any-" Kira suddenly remembered the terms of the Duel in Professor Darwin won.

"He wants one of Gale's cards? But the Professor has Beast monsters. Why would he want a 'Crusader' monster?"

Narrowing his eyes, Taikerou clenched his fist as he spoke with a hint of rage in his voice.

"I know exactly what he's after: A card that Gale has but never uses. If I'm right, then this entire Duel might get really ugly really quick."

Taikerou thought to himself.

{But it doesn't make since. How would he know about that card? I have a feeling that this guy isn't who he says he is…be careful Skyler…}


End file.
